Jeremiah 35

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah , king of Judah :

²Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers ; then offer them wine to drink .

³So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah , son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites .

⁴I brought them to the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah , the man of God , which was near the chamber of the officials , above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum , keeper of the threshold .

⁵Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine , and cups , and I said to them, Drink wine .

⁶But they answered , We will drink no wine , for Jonadab the son of Rechab , our father , commanded us , You shall not drink wine , neither you nor your sons forever .

⁷You shall not build a house ; you shall not sow seed ; you shall not plant or have a vineyard ; but you shall live in tents all your days , that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn .

⁸We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab , our father , in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days , ourselves, our wives , our sons , or our daughters ,

⁹and not to build houses to dwell in . We have no vineyard or field or seed ,

¹⁰but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

¹¹But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land , we said , Come , and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians . So we are living in Jerusalem .

¹²Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah :

¹³Thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem , Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words ? declares the Lord.

¹⁴The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons , to drink no wine , has been kept , and they drink none to this day , for they have obeyed their father’s command . I have spoken to you persistently , but you have not listened to me.

¹⁵I have sent to you all my servants the prophets , sending them persistently , saying , Turn now every one of you from his evil way , and amend your deeds , and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers . But you did not incline your ear or listen to me.

¹⁶The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command that their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me.

¹⁷Therefore , thus says the Lord, the God of hosts , the God of Israel : Behold , I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened , I have called to them and they have not answered .

¹⁸But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said , Thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you,

¹⁹therefore thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before me.