1The word which came to Yirmeyahu from יהוה in the days of Yehoyaqim son of Yoshiyahu, sovereign of Yehuḏah, saying,

2“Go to the house of the Rĕḵaḇites. And you shall speak to them, and bring them into the House of יהוה, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.”

3And I took Ya‛azanyah the son of Yirmeyahu, the son of Ḥaḇatstsinyah, and his brothers and all his sons, and all the house of the Rĕḵaḇites,

4and brought them into the House of יהוה, into the room of the sons of Ḥanan son of Yig̅dalyahu, a man of Elohim, which was by the chamber of the heads, above the room of Ma‛asĕyahu son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.

5And I set before the sons of the house of the Rĕḵaḇites bowls filled with wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”

6But they said, “We do not drink wine, because Yonaḏaḇ the son of Rĕḵaḇ, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons, forever.

7‘And do not build a house, neither sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have any of these, but dwell in tents all your days, so that you live many days on the face of the land where you are sojourners.’

8“So we obeyed the voice of Yonaḏaḇ son of Rĕḵaḇ, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters,

9nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in. And we have no vineyard, field or seed.

10“But we dwell in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Yonaḏaḇ our father commanded us.

11“And it came to be, whenNeḇuḵaḏretst-sar sovereign of Baḇel came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, let us go to Yerushalayim for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Arameans.’ So we dwell at Yerushalayim.”

12And the word of יהוה came to Yirmeyahu, saying,

13“Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Go, and you shall say to the men of Yehuḏah and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, “Have you not received instruction, to obey My words?” declares יהוה.

14“The words of Yonaḏaḇ son of Rĕḵaḇ, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are established, and they have not drunk unto this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. And as for Me, I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not obeyed Me.

15“And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Turn, each one from his evil way, and make good your deeds, and do not go after other mighty ones to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me.

16“The sons of Yonaḏaḇ son of Rĕḵaḇ have indeed carried out the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.” ’

17“Therefore thus said יהוה Elohim of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘See, I am bringing on Yehuḏah and on all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim all the evil I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them but they did not listen, and I have called to them but they did not answer.’ ”

18And Yirmeyahu said to the house of the Rĕḵaḇites, “Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Because you have obeyed the command of Yonaḏaḇ your father, and guarded all his commands and done according to all that he commanded you,

19therefore thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Of Yonaḏaḇ son of Rĕḵaḇ there shall never cease to be a man to stand before Me.” ’ ”