1A message from the LORD came to Jeremiah. It came in the 10th year that Zedekiah was king of Judah. It was in the 18th year of the rule of Nebuchadnezzar.2The armies of the king of Babylon were getting ready to attack Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was being held as a prisoner. He was kept in the courtyard of the guard. It was part of Judah’s royal palace.3Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had made Jeremiah a prisoner there. Zedekiah had said to him, ‘Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, “The LORD says, ‘I am about to hand over this city to the king of Babylon. He will capture it.4Zedekiah, the king of Judah, will not escape from the powerful hands of the armies of Babylon. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. Zedekiah will speak with him face to face. He will see him with his own eyes.5Nebuchadnezzar will take Zedekiah to Babylon. Zedekiah will remain there until I deal with him,’ announces the LORD. ‘Suppose you fight against the armies of Babylon. If you do, you will not succeed.’ ” ’6Jeremiah said, ‘A message from the LORD came to me. The LORD said,7“Hanamel is going to come to you. He is the son of your uncle Shallum. Hanamel will say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. You are my closest relative. So it’s your right and duty to buy it.’ ”8‘Then my cousin Hanamel came to me. I was in the courtyard of the guard. It happened just as the LORD had said it would. Hanamel said, “Buy my field at Anathoth. It is in the territory of Benjamin. It is your right to buy it and own it. So buy it for yourself.” ‘I knew that this was the LORD’s message.9So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out 204 grams of silver for him.10I signed and sealed the deed of purchase. I had some people witness everything. And I weighed out the silver on the scales.11There were two copies of the deed. One was sealed and the other wasn’t. The deed included the terms and conditions of the sale.12I gave Baruch the copies of the deed. My cousin Hanamel saw me do this. The witnesses who had signed the deed were there too. So were all the Jews who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard. Baruch was the son of Neriah. Neriah was the son of Mahseiah.13‘I gave Baruch directions in front of all of them. I said,14“The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Take this deed of purchase. Take the sealed and unsealed copies. Put them in a clay jar. Then they will last a long time.’15The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’ ”16‘I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah. Then I prayed to the LORD. I said,17‘ “LORD and King, you have reached out your great and powerful arm. You have made the heavens and the earth. Nothing is too hard for you.18You show your love to thousands of people. But you cause the sins of parents to affect even their children. Great and powerful God, your name is the LORD Who Rules Over All.19Your purposes are great. Your acts are mighty. Your eyes see everything people do. You reward each one of them in keeping with their conduct. You do this based on what they have done.20You performed signs and wonders in Egypt. And you have continued to do them to this day. You have done them in Israel and among all people. You are still known for doing them.21You brought your people Israel out of Egypt. You did it with signs and wonders. You reached out your mighty hand and powerful arm. You did great and wonderful things.22You gave Israel this land that you promised to their people of long ago. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.23Israel came in and took it over. But they did not obey you. They didn’t follow your law. They didn’t do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this trouble on them.24‘ “See how ramps are built up against Jerusalem’s walls to attack it. The city will be handed over to the armies of Babylon. They are attacking it. It will fall because of war, hunger and plague. What you said would happen is now happening, as you can see.25LORD and King, the city will be handed over to the armies of Babylon. In spite of that, you tell me to buy a field. You say, ‘Pay for it with silver. And have the sale witnessed.’ ” ’26Then a message from the LORD came to Jeremiah. The LORD said,27‘I am the LORD. I am the God of all people. Is anything too hard for me?’28So the LORD says, ‘I am about to hand this city over to the armies of Babylon. I will give it to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He will capture it.29The armies of Babylon are now attacking this city. They will come in and set it on fire. They will burn it down. They will burn down the houses where the people made me very angry. They burned incense on their roofs to the god named Baal. And they poured out drink offerings to other gods.30‘The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my eyes. They have done it since the nation was young. In fact, they have done nothing but make me very angry. They have worshipped statues of gods their own hands have made,’ announces the LORD.31‘This city has always stirred up my great anger. It has done it since the day it was built. Now I must remove it from my sight.32The people of Israel and Judah have made me very angry. They have done many evil things. They, their kings and officials have sinned. So have their priests and prophets. And the people of Judah and Jerusalem have also sinned.33They turned their backs to me. They would not face me. I taught them again and again. But they would not listen or pay attention when they were corrected.34They set up the hateful statues of their gods. They did it in the house where I have put my Name. They made my house “unclean”.35The people built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. That is where they sacrifice their children to Molek in the fire. That is something I did not command. It did not even enter my mind. They did something I hate. They made Judah sin.’36Here is what you people of Judah are saying about this city. ‘By war, hunger and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon.’ But here is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says.37‘You can be sure that I will gather my people again. I will send them away when my burning anger blazes out against them. But I will bring them back to this place. And I will let them live in safety.38They will be my people. And I will be their God.39I will give them a single purpose in life. Then, they will always have respect for me. Then all will go well for them. And it will also go well for their children after them.40I will make a covenant with them that will last for ever. I promise that I will never stop doing good to them. I will cause them to respect me. Then they will never turn away from me again.41I will take pleasure in doing good things for them. I will certainly plant them in this land. I will do these things with all my heart and soul.’42The LORD says, ‘I have brought all this horrible trouble on these people. But now I will give them all the good things I have promised them.43Once more fields will be bought in this land. It is the land about which you now say, “It is a dry and empty desert. It doesn’t have any people or animals in it. It has been handed over to the armies of Babylon.”44Fields will be bought with silver. Deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed. That will be done in the territory of Benjamin. It will be done in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah. It will also be done in the towns of the central hill country. And it will be done in the towns of the western hills and the Negev Desert. I will bless their people with great success again,’ announces the LORD.
Jeremiah 32
English Standard Version
Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. (2Ki 25:2; 2Ki 25:8; Jer 37:5; Jer 37:11; Jer 39:1; Jer 52:4; Jer 52:12)2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. (Ne 3:25; Ps 88:8; Jer 32:8; Jer 32:12; Jer 33:1; Jer 37:21; Jer 38:6; Jer 38:13; Jer 39:14)3For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; (Jer 21:10; Jer 32:25; Jer 32:36; Jer 32:43; Jer 34:2; Jer 37:17; Jer 38:3)4Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. (Jer 32:3; Jer 34:3)5And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?” (Jer 21:4; Jer 33:5; Jer 39:7; Jer 52:11)6Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me:7Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ (Le 25:25; Jos 21:18; Ru 4:4; Jer 1:1; Jer 29:27; Jer 32:25)8Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. (Jer 32:2; Jer 32:7)9“And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. (Ge 23:16; Jer 32:7; Zec 11:12; Mt 26:15)10I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. (Es 3:12; Jer 32:9; Jer 32:25; Jer 32:44)11Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy.12And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. (Isa 8:2; Jer 32:2; Jer 36:4; Jer 36:8; Jer 36:10; Jer 36:14; Jer 36:26; Jer 36:32; Jer 43:3; Jer 43:6; Jer 45:1)13I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, (Jer 32:12)14‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time.15For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’ (Jer 32:43)
Jeremiah Prays for Understanding
16“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: (Jer 32:12)17‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. (Ge 18:14; Isa 37:16; Jer 21:5; Jer 32:27)18You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, (Ex 20:6; Ex 34:7; De 5:9; Ps 79:12; Isa 9:6; Isa 65:6; Jer 10:16)19great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. (Ps 66:3; Ps 66:5; Isa 28:29; Jer 16:17; Jer 17:10)20You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. (2Sa 7:23; Ne 9:10; Ps 135:9)21You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. (Ex 6:6; De 4:34; 1Ch 17:21; Jer 21:5)22And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. (Ex 3:8; De 26:15)23And they entered 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. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. (Ne 9:26; Jer 11:8; Da 9:10)24Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. (Jer 6:6; Jer 14:12; Jer 32:3; Jer 32:36; Jer 33:4)25Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’” (Jer 32:7; Jer 32:10; Jer 32:24)26The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:27“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? (Ge 18:14; Nu 16:22)28Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. (Jer 32:3)29The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. (Jer 7:18; Jer 19:13; Jer 21:10)30For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. (Jer 3:25; Jer 25:6; Jer 32:29)31This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight (2Ki 23:27; 2Ki 24:3)32because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Jer 2:26)33They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. (Jer 2:27; Jer 5:3; Jer 7:24; Jer 25:3; Eze 8:16)34They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. (Jer 7:30; Jer 23:11)35They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. (Le 18:21; Jos 18:16; 1Ki 16:19; Jer 7:31; Jer 32:34)
They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God
36“Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: (Jer 32:3)37Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. (De 29:28; Jer 8:3; Jer 21:5; Jer 23:3; Jer 23:6; Jer 33:16; Eze 34:25)38And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Jer 30:22; Jer 31:33)39I 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. (De 6:24; Eze 11:19)40I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. (Ps 89:34; Isa 55:3; Jer 31:33; Jer 50:5; Eze 16:60)41I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. (De 28:63; Jer 24:6)42“For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. (Jer 31:28)43Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ (Jer 32:3; Jer 32:15; Jer 33:10)44Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.” (Jer 17:26; Jer 30:3; Jer 32:10)