The
Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 32
The promise and sign of Israel's restoration
and spiritual blessings.
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord
in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar.
2 (Now the army of the king of Babylon was
besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of
the guard that was in the house of the king of Judah;
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up,
saying, “Why do you prophesy, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will
deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;’”
4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from
the hand of the Chaldeans; he will surely be handed over to the king of
Babylon, and he will speak face to face with him, and his eyes will see his.
5 And he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he
will remain there until I visit him, declares the Lord. And even if you fight
against the Chaldeans, you will not prevail.
6 Then Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord
came to me:
7 Behold, Hananeel the son of Shallum, your
uncle, will come to you, saying, “Buy for yourself my field that is in
Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.”
8 Then Hananeel, my uncle’s son, came to me in
the courtyard of the guard, according to the word of the Lord, and said to me,
“Buy my field that is in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin; for the right of
inheritance is yours, and you have the right of redemption; buy it for
yourself.” Then I understood that this was the word of the Lord.
9 So I bought the field from Hananeel, my
uncle's son, which is in Anathoth, and I weighed out the money to him,
seventeen shekels of silver.
10 And I signed the document, and sealed it,
and it was confirmed by witnesses; and I weighed out the money on scales.
11 And I took the deed of purchase, both that
which was sealed according to the law and the statutes, and that which was
open.
12 And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch ,
the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hananeel, the son of my
uncle, and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and
in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.
13 And I gave orders to Baruch in their
presence, saying:
14 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of
Israel, says: “Take these documents, the sealed and the open deed of purchase,
and put them in an earthenware jar, so they can be preserved for many days;
15 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God
of Israel, says: “Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this
land.”
16 After I had given the deed of purchase to
Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying:
17 Ah! Lord Jehovah! Behold, you have made the
heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; nothing
is too wonderful for you:
18 You show kindness to thousands, but you
repay the sin of the parents to their children after them, O great and mighty
God, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
19 Great in counsel, and magnificent in deed;
for your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give to each
according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds:
20 You performed signs and wonders in the land
of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other people, and you made
a name for yourself, which is what you have this day.
21 And you brought your people Israel out of
the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm, and with great terror;
22 And you gave them this land, which you swore
to their fathers that you would give them: a land flowing with milk and honey.
23 And they entered it and possessed it, but
they did not obey your voice or walk in your law; all that you commanded them
to do, they did not do; therefore you ordained all this evil to befall them.
24 Look, here are the siege ramps! They have
come against the city to take it, and the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans, who fight against it with the sword, famine, and pestilence; and
what you said has come true, and behold, you are witnessing it.
25 Yet you said to me, O Lord God: Buy the
field for yourself with money, and have it witnessed; even though the city is
already given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,
saying:
27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh:
is anything too wonderful for me?
28 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will
deliver this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
29 And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against
this city, will enter it, set fire to this city, and burn the houses on whose
roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods,
to provoke me to anger.
30 For the children of Israel and the children
of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; for the
children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger with the works of
their hands, says the Lord.
31 For this city has been a source of anger and
wrath to me from the day it was built until this day, so that I might remove it
from my presence;
32 Because of all the wickedness of the
children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke
me to anger, they and their kings, their prophets, as well as the men of Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 They turned their backs to me and not their
faces. Though I taught them, rising early and teaching, they did not listen to
receive instruction.
34 But they set their abominations in the house
which is called by my name, to defile it.
35 And they built the high places of Baal,
which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their
daughters to pass through the fire to Molech ; which I commanded them not,
neither came it into my heart, that they should do this abomination, to cause
Judah to sin.
36 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says concerning this city, about which you say, “It has been given into
the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, famine, and pestilence”:
37 Behold, I will gather them from all the
lands whither I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in my great
indignation; and I will bring them back to this place, and cause them to dwell
safely there.
38 And they shall be my people, and I will be
their God.
39 And I will give them one heart and one way,
that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their
children after them.
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with
them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put my
fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.
41 And I will rejoice over them, doing them
good; and I will surely plant them in this land with all my heart and with all
my soul.
42 For this is what the Lord says: ‘Just as I
have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them
all the good I have promised them.’
43 And fields will be bought in this land, of
which you say, 'It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into
the hand of the Chaldeans.'
44 They will buy fields for money, and sign the
documents, and seal them, and have them witnessed in the land of Benjamin, and
in the outskirts of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of
the mountains and in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south;
for I will bring them back from their captivity, says the Lord.
