The Rekabites’ Obedience

35 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying: ² Go to the house of the Rekabites 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 Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rekabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door. ⁵ Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rekabites pots full of wine and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”

⁶ But they said, “We will drink no wine. For Jonadab the son of Rekab our father commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor own one; but all your days you shall dwell in tents so that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ ⁸ Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rekab, our father, in all that he has charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters, ⁹ nor to build houses for us to dwell in; and we do not have vineyard, or field, or seed. ¹⁰ But we have lived in tents only and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Arameans.’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: ¹³ Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words? says the Lord. ¹⁴ The words of Jonadab the son of Rekab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed. For to this day they drink none, but they obey their father’s commandment. However, I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not obey Me. ¹⁵ I also have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Return now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you will dwell in the land that I have given to you and to your fathers.” But you have not inclined your ear nor obeyed Me. ¹⁶ Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rekab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.

¹⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them but they have not listened, and I have called them but they have not answered.

¹⁸ Jeremiah said to the house of the Rekabites: Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he has commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rekab shall not lack a man to stand before Me always.