During the time when Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. Jehoiakim was the son of King Josiah. This was the message from the Lord:
So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, who was the son of Habazziniah. And I got all of Jaazaniah's brothers and sons and the whole family of the Recabites together.
Then I brought them into the Temple of the Lord. We went into the room of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah. Hanan was a man of God. The room was next to the room where the princes of Judah stay. It was over the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum. Maaseiah was the doorkeeper in the Temple.
But the Recabite family answered, "We never drink wine. We never drink it because our ancestor Jonadab son of Recab gave us this command: 'You and your descendants must never drink wine.
Also you must never build houses, plant seeds, or plant vineyards. You must never do any of those things. You must live only in tents. If you do that, you will live a long time in the land where you move from place to place.'
But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked the country of Judah, we did go into Jerusalem. We said to each other, 'Come, we must enter the city of Jerusalem so that we can escape the Babylonian army and the Aramean army.' So we have stayed in Jerusalem."
"This is what the Lord All- Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Jeremiah, go and tell this message to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem: 'You should learn a lesson and obey my message,' This message is from the Lord.
'Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine, and that command has been obeyed. Until today the descendants of Jonadab obeyed their ancestor's command. They do not drink wine. But I am the Lord. And I have given you people of Judah messages again and again, but you did not obey me.
I sent my servants the prophets to you people of Israel and Judah. I sent them to you again and again. They said to you, "Each of you must stop doing evil things. You must be good. Don't follow other gods. Don't worship or serve them. If you obey me, you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors." But you have not paid attention to my message.
"So this is what the Lord God All- Powerful, the God of Israel, says: 'I said that many bad things would happen to Judah and Jerusalem. I will soon make all those things happen. I spoke to the people, but they refused to listen. I called out to them, but they did not answer me.'"
Then Jeremiah said to the Recabite family, "This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: 'You have obeyed the commands of your ancestor Jonadab. You have followed all of his teachings. You have done everything he commanded.'