Jeremiah 32

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.

3Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up there, saying, “Why do you prophesy, ‘This is what Yahweh says: Look, I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

4Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes.

5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will stay there until I attend to him, declares Yahweh. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed’?”

6Jeremiah said, “The word of Yahweh came to me:

7Look, Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is coming to you to say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, for the right of redemption to buy it is yours.’

8Then, just as Yahweh had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said to me, ‘Please buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin, for the right of possession and of redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.

9So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out the money for him, seventeen shekels of silver.

10I signed the deed, sealed it, had it witnessed, and weighed the money on the scales.

11Then I took the deed of purchase, the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy,

12and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah in the presence of my relative Hanamel, of the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and of all the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

13In their presence I charged Baruch:

14‘This is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time.

15For this is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

16After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh:

17‘Ah, Lord Yahweh! You made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

18You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of the fathers into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is Yahweh of Armies,

19great in purpose and mighty in deed, your eyes are open to all the ways of humankind, to reward each person according to his ways and as his deeds deserve.

20You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day you have done so in Israel and among all people, and you have made a name for yourself, as it is today.

21You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.

22You gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

23They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do, and so you have made all this disaster come upon them.

24Look, the siege ramps have reached the city to capture it, and because of the sword, famine, and plague, the city is being handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you said has happened, and you can see it.

25Yet you, Lord Yahweh, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and have it witnessed”—though the city is being handed over to the Chaldeans!’”

26Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah:

27“Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all people. Is anything too hard for me?

28Therefore this is what Yahweh says: Look, I am handing this city over to the Chaldeans and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

29The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in and set this city on fire and burn it down, along with the houses on whose roofs the people burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.

30For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger with the work of their hands, declares Yahweh.

31For this city has aroused my anger and my wrath from the day it was built until this day, so that I must remove it from my sight,

32because of all the evil that the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

33They have turned their backs to me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or accept correction.

34They set up their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.

35They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech, something I did not command them, nor did it enter my mind that they should do this detestable thing and make Judah sin.

36Now therefore this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says concerning this city of which you are saying, ‘It is being handed over to the king of Babylon by the sword, by famine, and by plague’:

37Look, I will gather them from all the lands to which I have driven them in my anger, my fury, and my great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.

38They will be my people, and I will be their God.

39I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will fear me always, for their own good and the good of their children after them.

40I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing them good, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from me.

41I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and all my soul.

42For this is what Yahweh says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I am promising them.

43Fields will again be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without people or animals; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans.’

44Fields will be bought for money, and deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the areas around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah, in the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the foothills, and in the towns of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes, declares Yahweh.”