The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Go to the house of the
Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the
LORD, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.” So
I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his
brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites. I
brought them to the house of the LORD into the chamber of the sons
of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the
chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of
Shallum, keeper of the threshold. Then I set before the Rechabites
pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”
But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of
Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine,
neither you nor your sons forever. You shall not build a house; you
shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you
shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in
the land where you sojourn.’ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab
the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to
drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our
daughters, and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard
or field or seed, but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and
done all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But when
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said,
‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the
Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians.’ So we are living in
Jerusalem.”
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Thus says the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and
listen to my words? declares the LORD. The command that Jonadab the
son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept,
and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their
father's command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have
not listened to me. I have sent to you all my servants the
prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of
you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after
other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that
I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear
or listen to me. The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept
the command that their father gave them, but this people has not
obeyed me. Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God
of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them,
because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have
called to them and they have not answered.”
But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the
command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done
all that he commanded you, therefore thus says the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man
to stand before me.”
