¹But it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of royal seed, came, with the king's dignitaries and another ten men accompanying him, to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam in Mizpah, and they ate a meal there together in Mizpah. ²And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him arose, and they struck Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and he killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in the land. ³And Ishmael struck down all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah in Mizpah, and also the Chaldeans who were present there – the warriors. ⁴And it came to pass on the second day of the killing of Gedaliah, while no-one knew about it, ⁵that eighty men came, men from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria, with their beards shaven off and their clothes torn, and having made incisions on themselves, and with a meal-offering and incense in their hands, to bring to the house of the Lord. ⁶And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping continuously as he went, and it came to pass, when he met them, that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” ⁷Then it came to pass, when they had come inside the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah – he and the men who were with him – slaughtered them and put them in the pit. ⁸But ten men were present among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasures in the field – wheat and barley and oil and honey.” And he did not do it, and he did not kill them among their brothers. ⁹And the pit into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down with Gedaliah is the one which King Asa made when confronting Baasha king of Israel. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those killed. ¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the remainder of the people who were in Mizpah – the king's daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah – over whom Nebuzaradan the chief guard had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the sons of Ammon. ¹¹And when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the officers of the forces which were with him heard all the evil which Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and they found him at the water-rich area which is in Gibeon. ¹³And it came to pass when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the officers of the forces who were with him, they rejoiced, ¹⁴and all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned round and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men from the encounter confronting Johanan, and he went to the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶And Johanan the son of Kareah and all the officers of the forces which were with him, with all the remainder of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah from Mizpah after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, took men, warriors and women and children, and eunuchs, whom he had recovered from Gibeon, ¹⁷and they set off, and they stayed in the lodging place of Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, on their way to go to Egypt, ¹⁸because of the Chaldeans, because they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.