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¹ The word which came to Yirmeyahu from the LORD in the days of Yehoiakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, saying, ² Go to the house of the Rechavim, 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 Ya`azanyah the son of Yirmeyahu, the son of Havatztzinyah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechavim; <sup>4</sup> and I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Yigdalyahu, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Ma`aseyah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. ⁵ I set before the sons of the house of the Rechavim bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, Drink you wine. ⁶ But they said, We will drink no wine; for Yehonadav the son of Rechav, our father, commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your sons, forever: ⁷ neither shall you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land in which you sojourn. ⁸ We have obeyed the voice of Yehonadav the son of Rechav, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters; ⁹ nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: ¹⁰ but we have lived in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Yehonadav our father commanded us. ¹¹ But it happened, when Nevukhadretztzar king of Bavel came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Yerushalayim for fear of the army of the Kasdim, and for fear of the army of the Aram; so we dwell at Yerushalayim.

¹² Then came the word of the LORD to Yirmeyahu, saying, ¹³ Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el: Go, and tell the men of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, Will you not receive instruction to listen to my words? says the LORD. ¹⁴ The words of Yehonadav the son of Rechav, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father's mitzvah: but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; and you have not listened to me. ¹⁵ I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return you now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and don't 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 Because the sons of Yehonadav the son of Rechav have performed the mitzvah of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me; ¹⁷ therefore thus says the LORD, the God Tzva'ot,, the God of Yisra'el: Behold, I will bring on Yehudah and on all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered. ¹⁸ Yirmeyahu said to the house of the Rechavim, Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el: Because you have obeyed the mitzvah of Yehonadav your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you; ¹⁹ therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el: Yehonadav the son of Rechav shall not want a man to stand before me forever.