Jeremiah 35

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

² "Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them, and bring them to my house, into one of the side rooms, and give them wine to drink."

³ So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them to the house of our Father, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of our Father, which was next to the room of the officials, above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the gatekeeper. ⁵ Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, "Drink some wine."

⁶ But they said, "We will not drink wine, for Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, commanded us: 'You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your children, forever.' ⁷ You shall not build a house, sow seed, or plant a vineyard; you shall have none. But you shall live in tents all your days, so that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.' ⁸ So we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us: to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters, ⁹ and not to build houses to live in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, ¹⁰ but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, 'Come, let us go to Jerusalem to escape the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans.' So we are living in Jerusalem."

¹² Then the word of our Father came to Jeremiah:

¹³ "Thus says the Father of heaven's armies, the Father of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 'Will you not accept correction and listen to my words? declares our Father. ¹⁴ The command of Jonadab son of Rechab to his children not to drink wine has been kept; to this day they drink none, because they have obeyed their father's command. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not listened to me. ¹⁵ I sent you all my servants the prophets again and again, saying, 'Turn now, each of you, from your evil way, and amend your deeds. Do not go after other gods to serve them, and you will live in the land that I gave to you and to your ancestors.' But you have not listened or paid any attention to me. ¹⁶ The descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have kept the command their father gave them, but this people has not listened to me.

¹⁷ Therefore thus says the Father of heaven's armies, the Father of Israel: 'I am about to bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster I have pronounced against them, because I spoke to them and they did not listen, I called to them and they did not answer.'"}

¹⁸ Then to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, "Thus says the Father of heaven's armies, the Father of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Father of heaven's armies, the Father of Israel: Jonadab son of Rechab will never fail to have a descendant to stand before me."