JeremiahChapter 35

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¹The LORD gave a message to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah. ²"Go to the family of the Rechabites and speak to them. Bring them to one of the side rooms of the house of the LORD. Offer them some wine to drink." ³So I got Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah. I got his brothers and all his sons. This was the whole family of the Rechabites. ⁴I brought them into the house of the LORD. I took them to the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. This room was next to the room of the officials. That room was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the doorkeeper. ⁵Then I set jugs full of wine and some cups in front of the men of the Rechabite family. I said to them, "Drink some wine." ⁶"We don't drink wine," they answered. "Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab gave us a command. He said, 'You and your descendants must never drink wine. ⁷You must never build a house, plant seed, or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Instead, you must live in tents all your lives. Then you will live a long time in the land where you wander.' ⁸We have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab in all he commanded us. So we have never drunk wine. Not we, not our wives, and not our sons and daughters. ⁹We have not built houses to live in. We have not owned any vineyards or fields or crops. ¹⁰We have lived in tents. We have obeyed and done just what our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹But Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land. So we said, 'Come, let's go into Jerusalem. We must escape the armies of the Chaldeans and the Arameans.' That is why we are living in Jerusalem." ¹²Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah. ¹³"This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Go and speak to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. Say, 'Will you not learn your lesson and obey my words?' says the LORD. ¹⁴Jonadab son of Rechab told his sons not to drink wine. His words have been obeyed. To this very day they have not drunk it. They obeyed the command of their ancestor. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not obeyed me! ¹⁵Again and again I sent you all my servants the prophets. They said, 'Each of you, turn now from your evil ways. Fix how you live. Do not follow other gods to serve them. Live in the land I gave to you and your fathers.' But you would not pay attention or listen to me. ¹⁶Yes, the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab obeyed the command their ancestor gave them. But these people have not listened to me. ¹⁷So this is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Look, I will bring on Judah and all the people of Jerusalem all the disaster I warned them about. I spoke to them, but they did not obey. I called to them, but they did not answer.'" ¹⁸Then Jeremiah spoke to the family of the Rechabites. "This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'You obeyed the command of your ancestor Jonadab. You kept all his commands. You did all he told you to do. ¹⁹So this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Jonadab son of Rechab will always have a man to stand before me.'"