¶ The words which the LORD spake unto Ieremy, in the reign of Iehoakim the son of Iosiah king of Iudah, are these:
Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and call them out, and bring them to the house of the LORD in to some commodious place, and give them wine to drink.
Then took I Iazaniah the son of Ieremy the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren and all his sons, and the whole household of the Rechabites:
and brought them to the house of the LORD, in to the closet of the children of Hanan the son of Iegedaliah the man of God: which was by the closet of the princes, that is above the closet of Maasiah the son of Selum, which is the chief of the treasury.
And before the sons of the kindred of the Rechabites, I set pots full of wine, and cups, and said unto them: Drink wine.
But they said: We drink no wine, for Ionadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying: Ye and your sons shall never drink wine, build no houses, sow not seed, plant no vines,
yea ye shall have no vineyards: but for all your time ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live long in the land, wherein ye be strangers.
Thus have we obeyed the commandment of Ionadab the son of Rechab our father, in all that he hath charged us, and so we drink no wine all our life long: we, nor our wives, our sons, and our daughters.
Neither build we any house to dwell therein, we have also among us neither vineyards, nor corn land to sow:
but we dwell in tents, we obey, and do according unto all, that Ionadab our father commanded us.
But now that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came up into the land, we said come, let us go to Ierusalem, that we may escape the host of the Caldees and the Assyrians: and so we dwell now at Ierusalem.
¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Ieremy saying:
Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Go and tell whole Iudah and all the inhabiters of Ierusalem: Will ye not be reformed, to obey my words? sayeth the LORD.
The words which Ionadab the son of Rechab commanded his sons, that they should drink no wine, are fast and surely kept: for unto this day they drink no wine but obey their father's commandment. But as for me, I have stond up early, I have spoken unto you, and given you earnest warning: and yet have ye not been obedient unto me.
Yea I have sent my servants, all the prophets unto you, I rose up early, and sent you word, saying: O turn you, every man from his wicked way: amend your lives, and go not after strange gods, to worship them: that ye may continue in the land, which I have given unto you and your fathers, but ye would neither hear me, nor follow me.
The children of Ionadab Rachab's son have steadfastly kept their father's commandment, that he gave them, but this people is not obedient unto me.
And therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Iudah and upon everyone that dwelleth in Ierusalem, all the trouble that I have devised against them. For I have spoken unto them, but they would not follow: I have called unto them, nevertheless they would give me no answer.
Ieremy also spake unto the household of the Rechabites: Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: For so much as ye have obeyed the commandment of Ionadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath bidden you:
Therefore thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Ionadab the son of Rechab shall not fail, but have one out of his stock, to stond alway before me.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.