The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
“Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.”
Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites,
and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, that was by the room of the officials that was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.
I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine!”
But they said, “We will not drink wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You must not drink wine, not you or your sons, forever.
And you must not build a house, or sow seed, or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. But all your days you must live in tents in order that you live many days in the land where you are sojourning as a resident alien.’
We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to not drink any wine all our days, not us, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,
nor to build houses for us to dwell in, nor have a vineyard, nor a field, nor sow seed,
but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, ‘Come, and let’s go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So we dwell at Jerusalem.”
Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,
“This is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? says Yahweh.
The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, have been carried out, and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father’s commandment. But I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking again and again, but you have not listened to me.
I have also sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them again and again, saying, “Every man is to turn back from his evil way, and you are to amend your doings, and not go after other gods to serve them, and then you will dwell in the land that I have given to you and to your fathers.” But you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me.
Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have carried out the commandment of their father that he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me,
therefore this is what Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them but they have not listened and I have called to them but they have not answered.’”
Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “This is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you,
therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Jonadab the son of Rechab will not lack a man to stand before me forever.”