Jeremiah 41:5-7

41:5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. ¹  They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning. ²  They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ³  41:6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them. He was pretending to cry ⁴  as he walked along. When he met them, he said to them, “Come with me to meet Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” ⁵  41:7 But as soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw their bodies ⁶  in a cistern.

¹ sn Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria were all cities in the northern kingdom of Israel with important religious and political histories. When Israel was destroyed in 722 b.c., some of the Israelites had been left behind and some of the Judeans had taken up residence in these northern cities. People residing there had participated in the reforms of Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:11) and Josiah (2 Chr 34:9) and were evidently still faithfully following the Jewish calendar. They would have been on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish New Year and the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:34).

² tn The words “to show they were mourning” are not in the text but are implicit in the acts. They are supplied in the translation for clarification for readers who may not be familiar with ancient mourning customs.

³ tn The words “in Jerusalem” are not in the text but are implicit. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “he was weeping/crying.” The translation is intended to better reflect the situation.

⁵ tn Heb “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” The words that are supplied in the translation are implicit to the situation and are added for clarity.

⁶ tn The words “and threw their bodies” result from the significant use of the preposition אֶל (’el, so GKC 384 §119.gg and BDB 39 s.v. אֶל 1). Hence the suggestion in BHS (fn a) that the Syriac and two Greek mss are reading a different text is not really a textual issue but a translational one; the versions are supplying the words for stylistic purposes as has been done here.