For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. ¹ 

But there were ten men among them who said ¹  to Ishmael, “Do not kill us. For we will give you the stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey we have hidden in a field. ²  So he spared their lives and did not kill ³  them along with the rest. ⁴ 

Then the Lord told me about ¹  some men from Anathoth ²  who were threatening to kill me. ³  They had threatened, ⁴  “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!” ⁵ 

Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him stood up, pulled out their swords, and killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. Thus Ishmael killed the man that the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

Kill all her soldiers! ¹  Let them be slaughtered! ²  They are doomed, ³  for their day of reckoning ⁴  has come, the time for them to be punished.”

Ishmael also killed all the Judeans ¹  who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Babylonian ²  soldiers who happened to be there. ³ 

I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, ¹  people and animals alike! They will die from terrible diseases.

Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I answer you, you will certainly kill me. ¹  If I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

“Babylon must fall ¹  because of the Israelites she has killed, ²  just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell because of Babylon. ³ 

The Lord says, ¹  “Attack ²  the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod! ³  Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them! ⁴  Do just as I have commanded you! ⁵ 

Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah there at Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah before anyone knows about it. Otherwise he will kill you ¹  and all the Judeans who have rallied around you will be scattered. Then what remains of Judah will disappear.”

So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised, ¹  “As surely as the Lord lives who has given us life and breath, ²  I promise you this: I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.” ³ 

I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals. ¹ 

“I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ¹ 

But Baruch son of Neriah is stirring you up against us. ¹  He wants to hand us over ²  to the Babylonians ³  so that they will kill us or carry us off into exile in Babylon.”

The Lord who rules over all said, “I will kill all the archers of Elam, who are the chief source of her military might. ¹ 

I, the Lord, promise that ¹  I will hand Pharaoh Hophra ²  king of Egypt over to his enemies who are seeking to kill him. I will do that just as surely as I handed King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking to kill him.’”

Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. ¹  Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army. ² 

They were afraid of what the Babylonians might do ¹  because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

Should good be paid back with evil? Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. ¹  Just remember how I stood before you pleading on their behalf ²  to keep you from venting your anger on them. ³