Jeremiah 40:15
Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?
In chronological order the passage stands in chapters 40 to 45, which come after Jeremiah 39:1-14 and before Jeremiah 47 and Jeremiah 46. The prophecies of Jeremiah are not placed in chronological order because of displacement when the manuscript rolls were gathered together into one book, which makes no change whatever in the teaching. The chapter itself nearly always clearly indicates its chronology.
The setting is the threat from the king of Ammon against the small remnant of Jews gathered in Judah after Babylon carried the nation away. His action against the remnant scattered them and threatened their survival, completing the scattering caused by earlier conquering powers. In Mizpah, Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah to warn that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah intended to kill him. Johanan offered to go and kill Ishmael secretly so that no man would know it, in order to prevent that killing. He warned that Gedaliah's death would scatter all the Jews gathered unto him and cause the remnant in Judah to perish.
The words for slaying Gedaliah mean smiting his soul, referring to killing him as a person. That use shows that a person's soul can be slain and die.