Study it in the app“Then Johanan son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in secret at Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and strike Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know. Why should he strike you dead, and all Judah be scattered, who are gathered to you, and the remnant of Judah perish?””
Then Johananוְיוֹחָנָןsonבֶּןof Kareahקָרֵחַsaidאָמַרto Gedaliahאֶל גְּדַלְיָהוּin secretבַסֵּתֶרat Mizpah,בַּמִּצְפָּהsaying,לֵאמֹר“Let me go,אֵלְכָהplease,נָּאand strikeוְאַכֶּהIshmaelאֶת יִשְׁמָעֵאלsonבֶּןof Nethaniah,נְתַנְיָהand no oneוְאִישׁ לֹאwill know.יֵדָעWhyלָמָּהshould he strike youיַכֶּכָּהdead,נֶּפֶשׁand allוְ כָּלJudahיְהוּדָהbe scattered,נָפֹצוּwho are gatheredהַנִּקְבָּצִיםto you,אֵלֶיךָand the remnantוְ שְׁאֵרִיתof Judahיְהוּדָהperish?”אָבְדָה
Johanan
Johanan. A personal name meaning "YHWH has been gracious." In 2 Kings 25:23 he is the son of Kareah, one of the commanders of the forces left in Judah (see Jeremiah 40–43). Many other men bear it.
Where else “yochanan” appearsson
The male born of a father and mother; in the plural, also sons and daughters.
Where else “ben” appearsKareah
Kareah. A personal name meaning "bald." Father of Johanan, one of the commanders of the forces of Judah (2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8).
Where else “kareach” appearssay
To say with the mouth to someone what one thinks or wants, or to answer him.
Where else “amar” appearsGedaliah
Gedaliah. A personal name meaning "YHWH is great." Son of Ahikam; the king of Babylon set him over the people left in Judah, and he was killed at Mizpah by Ishmael (2 Kings 25:22-25; Jeremiah 40–41). Other men also bear it.
Where else “gedalyahu” appearssecret
What is kept hidden, out of the sight of others.
Where else “seter” appearsMizpah
See it on the mapWhere else “mitspa” appearsgo
To head for a place, to leave where one is in order to reach another.
Where else “elcha” appearsstrike dead
To strike dead, kill.
Where else “ake” appearsIshmael
Ishmael, the son of Abram and Hagar, father of twelve tribal chiefs; also the name of other Israelites. The name means "God hears" (Genesis 16:11).
Where else “yishmael” appearsNethaniah
Nethaniah: a name meaning "YHWH has given." In 2 Kings 25:23, 25 the father of Ishmael, of the royal line, who killed Gedaliah; other men also bear it (1 Chronicles 25:2; Jeremiah 36:14).
Where else “netanya” appearseach
Literally "a man": any person; with "not", not a single person.
Where else “ish” appearsknow
To know something, realize.
Where else “yeda” appearsperson
Someone as a whole; "my soul" can simply mean me.
Where else “nefesh” appearsJudah
Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah; also the tribe that came from him and its land, and later the southern kingdom; King David came from it. The name sounds like "give thanks". Borne also by other Israelites.
Where else “yehuda” appearsbe scattered
To end up scattered in many places, like a people without a shepherd.
Where else “nafotsu” appearsgather
To bring people to one place, or to come together there.
Where else “nikbatsim” appearsremnant
Remnant: those left alive after a disaster.
Where else “sheerit” appearsperish
To die, be ruined.
Where else “avda” appearsOther books that tell the same thing or quote these words.
Gedaliah the governor
An account told more fully or more briefly in one of the books.
Jeremiah 40:5–41:18
40:5And as he had not yet turned back, he said, “Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and live with him among the people; or wherever it is right in your eyes to go, go.” And the chief of the guard gave him provisions and a gift, and let him go. 40:6So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and he lived with him among the people who were left in the land. 40:7And all the chiefs of the forces who were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam in the land, and that he had entrusted to him men and women and little ones, and some of the poor of the land, of those who had not been carried into exile to Babylon; 40:8and they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 40:9And Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. 40:10As for me, look, I am living at Mizpah to stand before the Chaldeans who come to us; but you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken.” 40:11Likewise, all the Jews who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in all the lands, heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah, and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan. 40:12Then all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been driven, and they came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit in great abundance. 40:13And Johanan son of Kareah and all the chiefs of the forces who were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, 40:14and they said to him, “Do you really know that Baalis king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to strike you dead?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them. 40:15Then Johanan son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in secret at Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and strike Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know. Why should he strike you dead, and all Judah be scattered, who are gathered to you, and the remnant of Judah perish?” 40:16But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do this thing, for you are speaking falsehood about Ishmael.” 41:1And it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama came, of the royal offspring, and the great men of the king, and ten men with him, to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah; and they ate bread together there at Mizpah. 41:2Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah arose, and the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and put him to death, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in the land. 41:3Also all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war, Ishmael struck down. 41:4And it happened, on the second day after he had put Gedaliah to death, and no one knew it, 41:5that men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men, with their beards shaved and their garments torn and cutting themselves, with a grain offering and frankincense in their hand to bring to the house of YHWH. 41:6And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out to meet them from Mizpah, going along and weeping; and it happened, when he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” 41:7And it happened, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern, he and the men who were with him. 41:8But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have hidden treasures in the field, wheat and barley and oil and honey.” So he refrained, and did not put them to death among their brothers. 41:9Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down along with Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made because of Baasha king of Israel; that one Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled with the slain. 41:10Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people who were at Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the chief of the guard had entrusted to Gedaliah son of Ahikam; Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and went to cross over to the sons of Ammon. 41:11And Johanan son of Kareah and all the chiefs of the forces who were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done, 41:12and they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and they found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.
22As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan. 23All the chiefs of the forces, they and the men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, and they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24Gedaliah swore to them and to their men and said to them, “Do not fear the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.” 25And it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal offspring, came, and ten men with him, and they struck Gedaliah, and he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26All the people, from the small to the great, and the chiefs of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
Mizpah ?
Today: possibly Tell en-Nasbeh, West Bank
The name of several places; the main one was north of Jerusalem in Benjamin, and its exact site is not certain.
There Samuel gathered Israel, who confessed, “We have sinned against YHWH” (1 Sam 7:5-6), and there he presented Saul as king (1 Sam 10:17-24).
14and they said to him, “Do you really know that Baalis king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to strike you dead?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.
15 · This verse (above)
16But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do this thing, for you are speaking falsehood about Ishmael.”
