Dual Panel1This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
2Go and speak to the Rechabites; bring them to one of the rooms in the house of the LORD and offer them wine to drink.
3So I fetched Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, with his brothers and all his sons, the whole Rechabite family.
4I brought them into the house of the LORD to the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God; this adjoins the officers' room above that of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.
5I set bowls full of wine and drinking-cups before the Rechabites and invited them to drink;
6but they said, “We never drink wine, for our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab laid this charge on us: ‘You must never drink wine, neither you nor your children.
7Do not build houses or sow seed or plant vineyards; you are to have none of these things. Instead, you are to remain tent-dwellers all your days, so that you may live long on the soil where you are sojourners.’
8We have honoured all the commands of our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab and have drunk no wine all our lives, neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters.
9We have not built houses to live in, nor have we possessed vineyards or sown fields;
10we have lived in tents, obeying and observing fully the charge which our forefather Jonadab laid on us.
11But when King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon invaded the land we said, ‘Let us go to Jerusalem to escape the advancing Chaldaean and Aramaean armies.’ And we have stayed in Jerusalem.”
12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
13These are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Go and say to the Judaeans and the citizens of Jerusalem: Will you never accept correction and obey my words? says the LORD.
14The command of Jonadab son of Rechab to his descendants not to drink wine has been honoured; to this day they do not drink wine, for they obey their ancestor's command. But though I have warned you time and again, you have not obeyed me.
15Time and again I sent all my servants the prophets to say, “Turn back every one of you from evil conduct, mend your ways, and cease to follow other gods and serve them; then you will remain in the land that I have given to you and to your forefathers.” Yet you did not obey or listen to me.
16The descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have honoured the command their forefather laid on them, but this people have not listened to me.
17Therefore, these are the words of the LORD the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because they did not listen when I spoke to them or respond when I called them, I shall bring on Judah and on all the citizens of Jerusalem the full disaster with which I threatened them.
18To the Rechabites Jeremiah said: These are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Because you have kept the command of Jonadab your forefather, obeying all his instructions and carrying out all that he told you to do,
19therefore these are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: There will never be lacking in my service a man of the line of Jonadab son of Rechab.