The Obedience of the Rechabites

1The wordes which the Lorde spake vnto Ieremie, in the raigne of Iehoakim the sonne of Iosias kyng of Iuda, are these: 2Go vnto the house of the Rechabites, and call them out, and bryng them to the house of the Lorde, into some commodious place, and geue them wine to drinke. 3Then toke I Iazaniah the sonne of Ieremie, the sonne of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sonnes, and the whole housholde of the Rechabites, 4And brought them into the house of the Lord, into the closet of the chyldren of Hanan the sonne of Iegedaliah the man of God, whiche was by the closet of the princes, that is aboue the closet of Maasiah the sonne of Sellum, whiche is the treasurer. 5And before the sonnes of the kinred of the Rechabites I set pottes full of wine, and cuppes, and sayde vnto them, Drinke wine: 6But they sayde, We wyll drinke no wine: for Ionadab the sonne of Rechab our father commaunded vs, saying: Ye and your sonnes shall neuer drinke wine, buylde houses, sowe no seede, plant no vines, 7Yea ye shall haue no vineyardes: but for al your tyme ye shall dwel in tentes, that ye may liue long in the land wherin ye be straungers. 8Thus haue we obayed the commaundement of Ionadab the sonne of Rechab our father in al that he hath charged vs, and so we drinke no wine al our life long, we nor our wiues, our sonnes and our daughters, 9Neither buylde we any house to dwel therein: we haue also among vs neither vineyardes, nor corne lande to sowe: 10But we dwell in tentes, we obay, and do according vnto all that Ionadab our father commaunded vs. 11But nowe that Nabuchodonozor the kyng of Babylon came vp into the lande, we sayde, Come, let vs go to Hierusalem, that we may escape the hoast of the Chaldees and the Assyrians: and so we dwell nowe at Hierusalem.

Judah Rebuked

12Then came the worde of the Lorde vnto Ieremie, saying: 13Thus saith the Lorde of hoastes, the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Iuda, and the inhabitours of Hierusalem: wyll ye not be refourmed to obay my wordes, saith the Lorde? 14The wordes whiche Ionadab the sonne of Reehab commaunded his sonnes, that they shoulde drinke no wine, are fast surely kept, for vnto this day they drinke no wine, but obay their fathers commaundement: but as for me I haue stande vp early, I haue spoken vnto you, and geuen you earnest warning, and yet haue ye not ben obedient vnto me. 15Yea I haue sent my seruauntes al the prophetes vnto you, I rose vp early, and sent you worde, saying: O turne you nowe euery man from his wicked way, amende your liues, and go not after straunge gods to worship them, that ye may continue in the lande whiche I haue geuen vnto you and your fathers: but ye woulde neither heare me nor folowe me. 16The chyldren of Ionadab Rechabs sonne, haue stedfastly kept their fathers commaundement that he gaue them: but this people is not obedient vnto me, 17And therfore thus saith the Lorde of hoastes, the God of Israel: Beholde, I wyll bryng vpon Iuda, and vpon euery one that dwelleth in Hierusalem, all the trouble that I haue deuised against them: For I haue spoken vnto them, but they woulde not folowe, I haue called vnto them, neuerthelesse they woulde geue me no aunswere.

18Ieremie also spake vnto the householde of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hoastes the God of Israel: forasmuche as ye haue obayed the commaundement of Ionadab your father, and kept all his preceptes, and done according to all that he hath bidden: 19Therefore thus saith the Lorde of hoastes the God Israel: Ionadab the sonne of Rechab shal not faile, but haue one out of his flocke to stande alway before me.