CHAPTER 35

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah saying, ²“Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them and bring them to the house of the LORD to one of the chambers and give them wine to drink.” ³And I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and all the house of the Rechabites. ⁴And I brought them to the house of the LORD to the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah man of God, which is by the chamber of the nobles which is above the chamber of Maaseiah, guardian of the threshold. ⁵And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pitchers filled with wine, and cups, and I said to them: “Drink the wine.” ⁶And they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab son of Rechab our father charged us saying, you shall not drink wine, you and your sons, for all time. ⁷And no house shall you build nor seed shall you sow nor vineyard shall you plant, and you shall not have them, but in tents shall you dwell all your days, so that you may live many days on the face of the land where you sojourn. ⁸And we heeded the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab our father in all that he charged us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. ⁹And not to build houses for our dwelling, nor to have vineyard and field and seed. ¹⁰And we have dwelled in tents and heeded and done as all that Jonadab our father charged us. ¹¹And it happened when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylonia came up to the land that we said, Come, and let us come to Jerusalem from before the Chaldean force and from before the force of Aram and let us dwell in Jerusalem.” ¹²And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³“Thus said the LORD of Armies, God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, Will you not accept correction to heed My words, said the LORD? ¹⁴The words of Jonadab son of Rechab have been fulfilled, who charged his sons not to drink wine, and they have not drunk till this very day, for they heeded the command of their father. Yet I Myself have spoken to you continually, and you have not heeded Me. ¹⁵And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, continually sent them, saying: Turn back, pray, each from his evil way and make your acts good and do not go after other gods to serve them, and dwell on the land that I gave to you and to your fathers. But you did not bend your ear and you did not heed Me. ¹⁶For the sons of Jonadab have fulfilled their father’s command that he charged them, but this people has not heeded Me. ¹⁷Therefore, thus said the LORD God of Armies, God of Israel, I am about to bring upon Judah and upon all the dwellers of Jerusalem all the evil of which I spoke concerning them inasmuch as I spoke to them and they did not heed, and I called them and they did not answer. ¹⁸And concerning the house of Rechabites, Thus said the LORD of Armies, God of Israel: Inasmuch as you have heeded the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his commands and have done as all that he charged you, ¹⁹therefore, thus said the LORD of Armies, God of Israel, no man of Jonadab son of Rechab shall be cut off from serving Me for all time.”