1In the seventh month of the year, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, a member of the royal family and one of the king's chief officers, came with ten of his men to see Gedaliah at Mizpah. While they were eating to have a meal together,

2suddenly Ishmael and his ten men got up and attacked Gedaliah, killing him—the one appointed by the king of Babylon as the country's governor.

3Ishamel also killed all the other Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with the Babylonian soldiers there.

4The day after Gedaliah had been murdered and before anyone knew about it,

5a group of eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves. ¹¹⁰They were carrying grain offerings and frankincense for the Lord's Temple.

6Ishmael came out to meet them from Mizpah, weeping as he went along. When Ishmael met the men, he said, “Come and see what's happened to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!”

7But when they arrived in town, Ishmael and his men killed most of ¹¹¹them and threw their bodies into a cistern.

8But ten of them pleaded with Ishmael, “Don't kill us! We've got some good things hidden in the fields—wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey.” So Ishmael didn't kill them along with the others.

9(The cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he'd killed, including Gedaliah, was a large one that King Asa had dug because of the threat of attack by Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael filled it with bodies.)

10Then Ishmael took all the people left in Mizpah prisoner, including the daughters of the king, as well as everyone else living there. These were the people that Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard had put under the care of Gedaliah. Ishmael took them prisoner and left to go to the Ammonites.

11Johanan and all the army commanders of the armies with him found out about all of Ishmael's crimes.

12So they assembled all their men and went to attack Ishmael. They caught up with him near the large pool in Gibeon.

13When Ishmael's prisoners saw Johanan and all the army commanders with him, they were happy.

14All those that Ishmael had taken prisoner at Mizpah turned around and ran back to Johanan.

15Ishmael and eight of his men managed to escape from Johanan and get away to the Ammonites.

16Then Johanan and all the army commanders with him took charge of the survivors from Mizpah he'd rescued from Ishmael in Gibeon—the soldiers, women, children, and court officials that Ishmael had taken prisoner after he'd killed Gedaliah.

17They set off for Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem and stayed there, before leaving for Egypt

18to get away from the Babylonians. They were afraid of what the Babylonians would do because Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah, the governor of the country appointed by the king of Babylon.