Gedaliah Becomes Governor^(A)

²² Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left some people in the land of Judah. He appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor.

²³ The army captains and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, so they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, and their men. ²⁴ Then Gedaliah ·promised [vowed/swore to] these army captains and their men, “Don’t be afraid of the Babylonian ·officers [officials]. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and everything will go well for you.”

²⁵ In ·the seventh month [mid-autumn] Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama from the king’s family, came with ten men and ·killed [assassinated; murdered] Gedaliah. They also killed the men of Judah and Babylon who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people, ·from the least important to the most important [both great/high and small/low], along with the army leaders, ran away to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Babylonians.

²⁸ This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar took away as ·captives [exiles]: in the seventh year [^C597 bc], 3,023 ·Jews [^LJudeans]; ²⁹ in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year [^C586 bc], 832 people from Jerusalem; ³⁰ in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year [^C582 bc], Nebuzaradan, commander of the king’s special guards, took 745 ·Jews [^LJudeans] as ·captives [exiles].

In all 4,600 people were ·taken captive [exiled].