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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 to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Amariah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites;⁴ And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Gedaliah, a prophet of God, whose house was near the chamber of the princes, who dwell above the house of Maasiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door;⁵ And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites vessels full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, Drink wine;⁶ But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, neither you nor your sons for ever;⁷ Neither shall you build houses for yourselves nor sow seed nor plant vineyards nor have any; but you shall dwell in tents all your days; for you shall live many days in the land where you sojourn.⁸ Thus we have obeyed the command of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he has charged us, to drink no wine all our days, neither we nor our wives nor our sons nor our daughters;⁹ Nor to build houses for ourselves to dwell in; neither to have vineyards nor fields nor seed;¹⁰ But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.¹¹ But it came to pass 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 for fear of the army of Edom; so we dwell in Jerusalem.

¹² Then the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,¹³ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction to hearken to my words? says the LORD.¹⁴ The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, who commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, for they have obeyed their fathers commandment; yet I have spoken to you and warned you in advance; but you have not listened to me.¹⁵ I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, sending them in advance, saying, Repent now every man from his evil way and amend your doings and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers; but you have not inclined your ear nor listened to me.¹⁶ Behold, the sons of Jonadab have faithfully kept the commandment of their father, who commanded them, but this people has not hearkened to me;¹⁷ Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have warned them, but they have not listened; and I have called to them, but they have not answered me.¹⁸ And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he has commanded you,¹⁹ Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack an heir to stand before me for ever.