1The words which the LORD spake unto Jeremy, in the reign of Jehoakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, are these:
2Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and call them out, and bring them to the house of the LORD in to some commodious place, and give them wine to drink.
3Then took I Jazaniah the son of Jeremy the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren and all his sons, and the whole household of the Rechabites:
4and brought them to the house of the LORD, in to the closet of the children of Hanan the son of Iegedaliah the man of God: which was by the closet of the princes, that is above the closet of Maasiah the son of Selum, which is the chief of the treasury.
5And before the sons of the kindred of the Rechabites, I set pots full of wine, and cups, and said unto them: Drink wine.
6But they said: We drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying: Ye and your sons shall never drink wine, build no houses, sow not seed, plant no vines,
7yea ye shall have no vineyards: but for all your time ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live long in the land, wherein ye be strangers.
8Thus have we obeyed the commandment of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father, in all that he hath charged us, and so we drink no wine all our life long: we, nor our wives, our sons, and our daughters.
9Neither build we any house to dwell therein, we have also among us neither vineyards, nor corn land to sow:
10but we dwell in tents, we obey, and do according unto all, that Jonadab our father commanded us.
11But now that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came up into the land, we said come, let us go to Jerusalem, that we may escape the host of the Caldees and the Assyrians: and so we dwell now at Jerusalem.
12Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremy saying:
13Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Go and tell whole Judah and all the inhabiters of Jerusalem: Will ye not be reformed, to obey my words? sayeth the LORD.
14The words which Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded his sons, that they should drink no wine, are fast and surely kept: for unto this day they drink no wine but obey their father's commandment. But as for me, I have stand(stode) up early, I have spoken unto you, and given you earnest warning: and yet have ye not been obedient unto me.
15Yea I have sent my servants, all the prophets unto you, I rose up early, and sent you word, saying: O turn you, every man from his wicked way: amend your lives, and go not after strange gods, to worship them: that ye may continue in the land, which I have given unto you and your fathers, but ye would neither hear me, nor follow me.
16The children of Jonadab Rachab's son have steadfastly kept their father's commandment, that he gave them, but this people is not obedient unto me.
17And therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon everyone that dwelleth in Jerusalem, all the trouble that I have devised against them. For I have spoken unto them, but they would not follow: I have called unto them, nevertheless they would give me no answer.
18Jeremy also spake unto the household of the Rechabites: Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: For so much as ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath bidden you:
19Therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not fail, but have one out of his stock, to stand(stode) alway before me.