[1] The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, in the days of
Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, [2] Go into the house
of the Rechabites, and have talk with them, and take them into the house of
the Lord, into one of the rooms, and give them wine. [3] Then I took
Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers
and all his sons and all the Rechabites; [4] And I took them into the house
of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the
man of God, which was near the rulers' room, which was over the room of
Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door; [5] And I put before
the sons of the Rechabites basins full of wine and cups, and I said to
them, Take some wine. [6] But they said, We will take no wine: for Jonadab,
the son of Rechab our father, gave us orders, saying, You are to take no
wine, you or your sons, for ever: [7] And you are to make no houses, or put
in seed, or get vine-gardens planted, or have any: but all your days you
are to go on living in tents, so that you may have a long life in the land
where you are living as in a strange country. [8] And we have kept the
rules of Jonadab, the son of Rechab our father, in everything which he gave
us orders to do, drinking no wine all our days, we and our wives and our
sons and our daughters; [9] Building no houses for ourselves, having no
vine-gardens or fields or seed: [10] But we have been living in tents, and
have done everything which Jonadab our father gave us orders to do. [11]
But when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land, we said,
Come, let us go to Jerusalem, away from the army of the Chaldaeans and from
the army of the Aramaeans: and so we are living in Jerusalem. [12] Then the
word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, [13] This is what the Lord of
armies, the God of Israel, has said: Go and say to the men of Judah and the
people of Jerusalem, Is there no hope of teaching you to give ear to my
words? says the Lord. [14] The orders which Jonadab, the son of Rechab,
gave to his sons to take no wine, are done, and to this day they take no
wine, for they do the orders of their father: but I have sent my words to
you, getting up early and sending them, and you have not given ear to me.
[15] And I have sent you all my servants the prophets, getting up early and
sending them, saying, Come back, now, every man from his evil way, and do
better, and go not after other gods to become their servants, and you will
go on living in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but
your ears have not been open, and you have not given attention to me. [16]
Though the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have done the orders of their
father which he gave them, this people has not given ear to me: [17] For
this reason the Lord, the God of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See,
I will send on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the evil which
I said I would do to them: because I sent my words to them, but they did
not give ear; crying out to them, but they gave no answer. [18] But to the
Rechabites Jeremiah said, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of
Israel, has said: Because you have done the orders of Jonadab your father,
and have kept his rules, and done everything as he gave you orders to do
it; [19] For this reason the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said,
Jonadab, the son of Rechab, will never be without a man to take his place
before me.
