Jeremiah

The word that came to Jeremiah from GOD in the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:

Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them to the House of GOD, to one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, all his sons, and all the men in the household of the Rechabites;

and I brought them to the House of GOD, to the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the agent of God, which is next to the chamber of the officials and above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the guardian of the threshold.

I set bowls full of wine and cups before the Rechabites, and said to them, “Have some wine.”

They replied, “We will not drink wine, for our ancestor, Jonadab son of Rechab, commanded us: ‘You shall never drink wine, either you or your children.

Nor shall you build houses or sow fieldsafields Lit. “seed.” or plant vineyards, nor shall you own such things; but you shall live in tents all your days, so that you may live long upon the land where you sojourn.’

And we have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab in all that he commanded us: we never drink wine, neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters.

Nor do we build houses to live in, and we do not own vineyards or fields for sowing;

but we live in tents. We have obeyed and done all that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.

But when King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon invaded the country, we said, ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem because of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of Aram.’ And so we are living in Jerusalem.”

Then the word of GOD came to Jeremiah:

Thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Go say to the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “You can learn a lesson [here] about obeying My commands—declares GOD.

The commands of Jonadab son of Rechab have been fulfilled: he charged his children not to drink wine, and to this day they have not drunk, in obedience to the charge of their ancestor. But I spoke to you persistently, and you did not listen to Me.

I persistently sent you all My servants, the prophets, to say: ‘Turn back, every one of you, from your wicked ways and mend your deeds; do not follow other gods or serve them. Then you may remain on the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you did not give ear or listen to Me.

The family of Jonadab son of Rechab have indeed fulfilled the charge that their ancestor gave them; but this people has not listened to Me.

Assuredly, thus said the ETERNAL, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster with which I have threatened them; for I spoke to them, but they would not listen; I called to them, but they would not respond.”

And to the family of the Rechabites Jeremiah said: “Thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the charge of your ancestor Jonadab and kept all his commandments, and done all that he enjoined upon you,

assuredly, thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: There shall never cease to be someone from the line of Jonadab son of Rechab standing before Me.”