Jeremiah 35:1-11

When Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, YAHWEH spoke to me and said, “Go to the Rechabites and invite them to come with you into one of the side rooms of the temple of YAHWEH. When they arrive, offer them a drink of wine.” So I went to see Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah and grandson of Habazziniah, his brothers, and all his sons, and the entire Rechabite clan. I brought them all to the temple of YAHWEH and into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed. The room was next to that of the temple officials, directly above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the keeper of the temple entrance. Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine with some cups and said, “Here, have some wine.” But they replied, “We don’t drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab made a rule that we must obey. He insisted that we and our descendants must never drink wine, build houses for ourselves, or plant crops or vineyards. He told us, ‘You must always live in tents as resident aliens so that you may live long in the land.’ Our clan has always fully obeyed the command of Jonadab son of Rechab, our ancestor. To this very day, we and our wives, sons, and daughters don’t drink wine, build houses, or plant vineyards or crops. And we have lived in tents. However, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, we decided, ‘We must protect ourselves! Let’s go to Jerusalem to escape the armies of the Babylonians and the Syrians.’ That is why we are living now in Jerusalem.”