(9:1) As for the general Nabuzardanes, after taking captive the Hebrew people, he left behind the poor and the deserters in the country and, appointing a governor over them, named Gedalyah, son of Aḥiqam who was of noble family and kind and just, he imposed upon them the payment of a fixed tribute to the king from the cultivation of the soil.^[1] Cf. 2 Kings 25:22; Yirmiyahu 40:1 

Then he took the prophet Yirmiyahu out of prison and tried to persuade him to go with him to Babylon, for, he said, he had been ordered by the king to provide him with everything; but, if he were unwilling, he should let him know where he had decided to remain, in order that word of this might be sent to the king.

The prophet, however, neither wished to accompany him nor to dwell anywhere else, but was content to live on among the ruins of his native land and its miserable remains.^[2] Cf. Yirmiyahu 40:4  When the general learned of his resolve, he commanded Gedalyah, whom he left behind, forthwith to take all possible care of him and provide him with everything he might need,^[3] According to Scripture (Yirmiyahu 40:5) Nebuzaradan himself provides Yirmiyahu with food.  and, having presented him with valuable gifts, he let him go.

And so Yirmiyahu remained in the country, in a city called Mitspah, and urged Nabuzardanes to release, at the same time as himself, his disciple Barukh, the son of Neraiah, who came of a very distinguished family and was exceptionally well instructed in his native tongue.

(2) Then Nabuzardanes, having disposed of these matters, set out for Babylon. But, when those who had fled from Jerusalem while it was being besieged and had scattered throughout the country heard that the Babylonians had withdrawn, leaving behind some few survivors in the country round Jerusalem and some people to cultivate this land, they gathered together from all parts and came to Gedalyah at Mitspah.^[4] Cf. 2 Kings 25:23; Yirmiyahu 40:7 

Their leaders were Yoḥanan, the son of Qare’aḥ, and Serayah and Yazanyahu and some others in addition to these, while there was one from the royal family, a certain Yishmael, a wicked and very crafty man, who had fled from Jerusalem during the siege to Baalim, the king of the Ammonites, and had stayed with him during all that time.

Accordingly, when they arrived there, Gedalyah persuaded them to remain there for the present without any fear of the Babylonians, for, he said, if they worked the land they would suffer no harm. These assurances he confirmed by giving them his oath and telling them that they should have him as their protector, so that, if anyone molested them, they would find him ready to help.

And he advised them to settle down in the cities, each wherever he chose, and to send others along with their own men and rebuild on the foundations and live there; he also warned them, while there was still time, to prepare stores of grain, wine and oil in order to have food throughout the winter. Having spoken to them in this manner, he dismissed them, each to whatever place in the country he chose.

(3) Now, when a rumour was spread among the nations round Judaea that Gedalyah had received with friendliness those of the fugitives who came to him, and had permitted them to settle down and work the land on condition of paying tribute to the Babylonian king, they^[5] Josephus’s language is decidedly careless; by “they” he means the Jewish fugitives among the surrounding nations, not these nations themselves.  too came together to Gedalyah and settled on the land.

And, when they observed (the nature of) the land^[6] text uncertain; Lat. renders “observed that the land was ruled in peace.”  and the kindness and friendliness of Gedalyah, Yoḥanan and the leaders with him came to feel a very great affection for him and told him that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, had sent Yishmael to kill him by treachery and in secret, in order that Yishmael might rule over the Israelites,^[7] Cf. Yirmiyahu 40:11  for he was of the royal line.

They would, however, save him from the plot, they said, if he allowed them to kill Yishmael, as no one would know of it. For they were afraid, they declared, that, if he were murdered by Yishmael, it would mean the complete destruction of what remained of the Israelites’ strength.

But he confessed that he did not believe them when they accused a man who had been well treated of forming such a plot, for, he said, it was not likely that a man who had not wanted for anything in the midst of so great a scarcity should be found so base and ungrateful to his benefactor as to seek to kill him with his own hands when it would be a wicked thing in itself for Yishmael not to be anxious to save him if he were plotted against by others.

In any case, he said, even if he must believe their words to be true, it was better for him to die by the hands of Yishmael than to put to death a man who had taken refuge with him and had entrusted his very life into his hands for safe keeping.^[8] In the preceding passage Josephus greatly amplifies the brief statement of Gedalyah in Scripture, “Thou shalt not do this thing; for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.” 

(4) And so Yoḥanan and those of the leaders who were with him went away without being able to convince Gedalyah. But, when a period of thirty days had elapsed,^[9] Bibl. “in the 7th month.” The medieval Jewish commentator Kimchi, like Josephus, takes this to mean a month after Gedalyah’s statement to Johanan, although Scripture does not indicate how long the interval was.  Yishmael came with ten men to Gedalyah at the city of Mitspah, where he entertained them with a splendid banquet and presents and, in his cordial reception of Yishmael and those with him, went so far as to become drunk.

Seeing him in this condition, sunken into unconsciousness and a drunken sleep, Yishmael sprang up with his ten friends and slaughtered Gedalyah and those reclining with him at the banquet table;^[10] Scripture says nothing of a splendid banquet or the intoxication of Gedalyah ; cf. Yirmiyahu 41:1-2, “… they ate bread together in Mitspah. Then arose Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the ten that were with him and smote Gedalyah ” etc.  after slaying them, he went out by night and murdered all the Jews in the city and the soldiers who had been left there by the Babylonians.

But on the following day eighty of the people of the country came with gifts for Gedalyah, for no one of them knew what had happened to him.^[11] Josephus omits the scriptural detail that they were in mourning; moreover Scripture says that they brought gifts for the temple, not for Gedalyah.  And, when Yishmael saw them, he invited them in as if to see Gedalyah; then, when they were inside, he closed the gates of the court^[12] Lit. “closed off the court,” but this implies closing the gates, as in the variant. Scripture says that he slew them “when they came into the midst of the city.”  and murdered them and cast their bodies into the bottom of a deep pit, that they might not be seen.^[13] Josephus omits the scriptural detail that this pit had been dug by Asa to prevent Baasha’s invasion of Judah. 

But of these eighty men some^[14] 10, according to Scripture.  were saved by pleading that they might not be killed before they should deliver to him the implements and clothing and grain that were hidden in their fields.^[15] Bibl. “treasures in the field, of wheat, barley, oil and honey.”  When Yishmael heard their plea, he spared these men.

But the people in Mitspah he took captive with their wives and young children; among them were the daughters of King Sacchias himself, whom Nabuzardanes, the Babylonian general, had left with Gedalyah. Having carried out these crimes, he came to the king of the Ammonites.

(5) When Yoḥanan and the leaders with him heard of the things done at Mitspah by Yishmael and of the death of Gedalyah, they were very indignant and, each taking his own soldiers, they set out to make war on Yishmael, and came upon him at the spring in Ḥebron.^[16] Cf. Yirmiyahu 41:11 

But, when those who had been taken captive by Yishmael saw Yoḥanan and the leaders, they were filled with joy at the thought that they had come to help them and, deserting their captor, they went over to Yoḥanan. And so Yishmael fled with eight men to the king of the Ammonites.

But Yoḥanan took those whom he had saved from Yishmael’s hands and the eunuchs and women and young children, and came to a certain place called Mandra.^[17] The name means “cattle-pen.” Dr. Thackeray, Josephus, the Man, etc., p.89 note, suggests that Josephus read Gid’roth Kimham “cattle-pens of Kimham” in the Heb. of Yirmiyahu 41:17 where our Masoretic text reads “Geroth Kimham (Targum and A.V. “habitation of Kimham”) near Bethlehem”…  And there he remained for that day until they decided to depart from there and go to Egypt, fearing that the Babylonians might kill them, if they remained in the country, in their wrath over the murder of Gedalyah who had been appointed by them as governor.

(6) While they were considering this plan, Yoḥanan, the son of Qare’aḥ, and the leaders with him approached the prophet Yirmiyahu and urged him to entreat God to reveal to them what they should do, for they were unable to decide this, and they swore that they would do whatever Yirmiyahu told them.^[18] Cf. Yirmiyahu 42:1 

The prophet thereupon promised to use his good offices with God on their behalf, and after ten days it happened that God appeared to him and told him to announce to Yoḥanan and the other leaders and all the people that if they remained in that country He would be with them and take care of them and preserve them unharmed from the hands of the Babylonians whom they feared; but, if they set out for Egypt, He would abandon them and in His anger visit upon them the same treatment “which, as you know, your brothers suffered before you.”^[19] This last clause is apparently based on Yirmiyahu 42:18, “… as mine anger and my fury have been poured forth upon the habitants of Jerusalem, so shall my fury be poured forth upon you,” etc. 

These things, said the prophet to Yoḥanan and the people, God foretold to them;^[20] Cf. Yirmiyahu 43:1  however they did not believe that it was at God’s command that he bade them remain in the country but that to please Barukh, his own disciple, he was belying God and trying to persuade them to remain there in order that they might be destroyed by the Babylonians.

And so the people and Yoḥanan disregarded the counsel^[21] Variant “alliance.”  of God, which He had given them through the prophet, and departed for Egypt, taking both Yirmiyahu and Barukh.

(7) But, when they came there,^[22] To the city of Taḥpanḥes, according to Scripture.  the Deity revealed to the prophet that the king of Babylonia was about to march against the Egyptians, and He bade the prophet foretell to the people^[23] Josephus omits the symbolism of the stones which God commands Yirmiyahu to hide (Yirmiyahu 43:9 ff).  that Egypt would be taken and that the Babylonian king would kill some of them and would take the rest captive and carry them off to Babylon.

And so it happened; for in the fifth year after the sacking of Jerusalem, which was the twenty-third year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,^[24] Cf. Yirmiyahu 52:30  Nebuchadnezzar marched against Coele-Syria and, after occupying it, made war both on the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Then, after making these nations subject to him, he invaded Egypt in order to subdue it, and, having killed the king who was then reigning and appointed another, he again took captive the Jews who were in the country and carried them to Babylon.^[25] According to Scripture it was Nebuzaradan who carried off the last group of captives in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Josephus’s statement about the conquest of the Moabites and Ammonites is based on the prophecies of Yirmiyahu, cc. 44-49. For Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Egypt he probably used Berosus as a source, cf. §§ 220 ff. 

And so, as we have learned from history, the Hebrew race twice came to such a pass as to go beyond the Euphrates. For the people of the ten tribes were driven out of Samaria by the Assyrians in the reign of Osees, and, once again, the people of the two tribes who survived the capture of Jerusalem were driven out by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia and Chaldaea.

Now, when Shalmaneser removed the Israelites, he settled in their place the nation of Chuthaeans, who had formerly lived in the interior of Persia and Media and who were then, moreover, called Samaritans because they assumed the name of the country in which they were settled. But the king of Babylonia, when he carried off the two tribes, did not settle any nation in their place, and for this reason all of Judaea and Jerusalem and the temple remained deserted for seventy years.

Now the entire interval of time from the captivity of the Israelites until the deportation of the two tribes amounted to one hundred and thirty years, six months and ten days.^[26] Whether we reckon the lower limit of this interval as the deportation in the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign (§135) or that which took place 5 years later (§181) the chronology is inconsistent with that implied earlier (cf. §143 note b). According to Antiquities 9:278 the Israelite deportation took place in the 7th year of Hezekiah. The sum of regnal years for the rest of Hezekiah’s reign and those of his successors is 132 years 6 months 20 days. There is thus a discrepancy of about 2 years (or 7 years if we take the last deportation, mentioned in §181, as the lower limit). For various theories as to the source of Josephus’s chronology here see Weill’s note ad loc. (which is not very helpful). It may be added that according to modern reckoning the interval between the two great deportations is about 135 years (722/1-587/6 B.C.E.).