5. Then I set cups and pitchers filled with wine in front of the family of Rechab. I said to them, “Drink some wine.”
6. They answered, “We don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, gave us this order: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine.
7. Never build any houses or plant any fields or vineyards. You must never have any of these things. You must always live in tents so that you may live for a long time in the land where you are staying.’
8. We, along with our wives, sons, and daughters, have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, in everything he ordered us to do. We have never drunk wine,
9. built houses to live in, or owned vineyards, pastures, or grainfields.
10. We live in tents, and we have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab ordered us to do.
11. But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem ⌊to escape⌋ the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That’s why we are living in Jerusalem.”
12. Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said,
13. “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Tell the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, ‘Won’t you ever learn your lesson and obey my words? declares the Lord.