Bible Strands
Jeremiah 41:3
Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator documents Ishmael’s actions immediately following his assassination of Governor Gedaliah at Mizpah. The record occurs in the immediate aftermath of the coup, before any outside party learns of the killings.
The words — כָּל (kol) means "all," and הַיְּהוּדִים (hay-yehûḏîm) translates "the Jews," specifying the complete group of Gedaliah’s attendants who were present.
The thread — The text identifies Ishmael as a royal family member in 2 Kings 25:25 and notes that Johanan and the army commanders later hear of these crimes in Jeremiah 41:11. Ecclesiastes 9:18 provides a thematic parallel regarding the capacity of one sinner to destroy much good.
Why it lands — The passage records the systematic slaughter of Gedaliah’s remaining Jewish and Chaldean forces at Mizpah. It requires the reader to acknowledge the immediate consolidation of violent control and the resulting political vacuum in the region.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 25:25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
- Ecclesiastes 9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
- Jeremiah 41:11 When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him heard of all the crimes that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed,
- Lamentations 1:2 She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.