Then I set out chalices and pitchers of wine for the Recabites and said, “A toast! Drink up!”

6-7 But they wouldn’t do it. “We don’t drink wine,” they said. “Our ancestor Jonadab son of Recab commanded us, ‘You are not to drink wine, you or your children, ever. Neither shall you build houses or settle down, planting fields and gardens and vineyards. Don’t own property. Live in tents as nomads so that you will live well and prosper in a wandering life.’

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Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab[a](A) son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.(B) Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents.(C) Then you will live a long time in the land(D) where you are nomads.’

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 35:6 Hebrew Jonadab, a variant of Jehonadab; here and often in this chapter