Jeremiah 32

1The 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 confined in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah.

3because Zedekiah king of Judah had confined him, saying, “Why do you prophesy, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it’?”

4And Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, for he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak mouth to mouth with him, and his eyes will see his eyes.

5And he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will remain until I attend to him, declares the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.

6And Jeremiah said, "The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,"

7Look, Hanamel son of Shallum, your uncle, is coming to you, saying, ‘Buy my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption to buy it belongs to you.’

8Then Hanamel the son of my uncle came to me in the court of the guard, according to the word of Yahweh, and he said to me, “Please buy my field that is at Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.

9So I bought the field from Hanamel the son of my uncle, who was at Anathoth, and I weighed out the silver to him: seventeen shekels of silver.

10So I wrote it in the deed, sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.

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

12Then I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle, and in the sight of the witnesses who had written in the deed of purchase, in the sight of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.

13And I charged Baruch before their eyes, saying,

14Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these documents, this deed of purchase, both the sealed copy and this open copy, and put them in an earthenware vessel, so that they may last for many days.

15For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: 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, saying,

17Ah, Lord GOD! Look, you yourself made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you.

18showing steadfast love to thousands, and repaying the iniquity of fathers into the lap of their children after them—the great, mighty God, Yahweh of Armies, is his name.

19great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of man, to give to each man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

20who set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and in Israel and among mankind to this day, and made a name for yourself, as it is this day.

21And you 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.

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

23They came in and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice, and they did not walk in your law. They did not do all that you commanded them to do, and you brought upon them all this disaster.

24Look, the siege ramps have come up against the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword and the famine and the plague. What you spoke has happened, and look, you see it.

25Yet you yourself said to me, Lord Yahweh, ‘Buy the field for yourself with silver and call witnesses,’ though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,

27Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me?

28Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

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

30For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done only what was evil in my eyes from their youth, for the sons of Israel have only provoked me by the work of their hands, declares Yahweh.

31For this city has been to me a cause of my anger and my wrath from the day they built it even to this day, so that I should remove it from before my face.

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

33They turned their back to me and not their face; though I taught them, rising early and teaching, they would not listen to receive correction.

34They put their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.

35They built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I had not commanded them, nor had it entered my heart that they should do this abomination, causing Judah to sin.

36Now therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It has been given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence’:

37Behold, I am gathering them from all the lands where I drove them in my anger and in my wrath and in great indignation, and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.

38And they will be my people, and I will be their God.

39And I will give them one heart and one way, so that they may fear me all their days, for their good and for the good of their children after them.

40I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from me.

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

42For thus says Yahweh: Just as I brought on this people all this great disaster, so I will bring on them all the good that I am speaking concerning them.

43Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’

44Fields will be bought with silver, and deeds will be written in a scroll and sealed and witnessed by witnesses in the land of Benjamin, around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares Yahweh.