Old Testament · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah Buys Hanamel’s Field

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah; it was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2And then the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah.

3for Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying: "Why do you prophesy, saying: Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it; 4and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and his mouth will speak with his mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes; 5and he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will be until I visit him, declares the LORD; though you fight with the Chaldeans, you will not prosper?"

6And Jeremiah said: "The word of the LORD came to me, saying: 7Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying: Buy for yourself my field which is in Anathoth, for yours is the judgment^a of the redemption, to buy it. 8And Hanamel son of my uncle came to me, according to the word of the LORD, to the court of the guard, and said to me: Buy now my field which is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for yours is the judgment of the inheritance, and yours the redemption; buy it for yourself. And I knew that it was the word of the LORD.

9And I bought the field from Hanamel son of my uncle, which is in Anathoth, and I weighed for him the silver, seven shekels and ten of silver. 10And I wrote in the book and sealed it, and caused witnesses to testify, and weighed the silver in the balances. 11And I took the book of the purchase, the sealed one—the commandment^b and the statutes^c—and the open one; 12and I gave the book of the purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, before the eyes of Hanamel my uncle, and before the eyes of the witnesses who wrote in the book of the purchase, before the eyes of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.

13And I commanded^d Baruch before their eyes, saying: 14Thus says the LORD of hosts^e, the God of Israel: Take these books, this book of the purchase, both the sealed one and this open book, and put them in an earthen vessel, so that they may stand many days. 15For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards will yet be bought in this land.

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

16And I prayed to the LORD, after I gave the book of the purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, saying: 17Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; nothing is too hard for you;

18doing kindness to thousands, and repaying the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty God, the LORD of hosts is his name; 19great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of man^f, to give to each man^g according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;

20who set signs^h and wondersⁱ in the land of Egypt until this day, and in Israel and among man; and you made for yourself a name, as at this day;

21and you brought out your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22and you gave to them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey;

23and they came and possessed it, but they did not listen to your voice, and in your Torah they did not walk; all that you commanded them to do, they did not do; and you caused all this evil to meet them. 24Behold, the siege-mounds have come to the city to take it, and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword and the famine and the pestilence; and what you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it.

25And you, you said to me, the Lord GOD: Buy for yourself the field with silver, and cause witnesses to testify—yet the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans."

The LORD Answers Jeremiah

26And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying: 27Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh^j; is anything too hard for me?

28Therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it; 29and the Chaldeans who fight against this city will come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me.

30For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have only been doing what is evil in my eyes from their youth; for the sons of Israel only provoke me with the work of their hands, declares the LORD.

31For upon my anger and upon my wrath this city has been to me, from the day they built it even until this day, that I should remove it from before my face; 32because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they did to provoke me—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the man of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33And they turned to me the back of the neck and not the face; and though I taught them, rising early and teaching, yet they did not listen to receive instruction.

34And they set their abominations in the house upon which my name is called, to defile it. 35And 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 over to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come up upon my heart, to do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

A Promise of Restoration

(Ezekiel 11:13–21)

36And 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 the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence: 37Behold, I am gathering them from all the lands where I drove them in my anger and in my wrath and in great fury; and I will bring them back to this place, and cause them to dwell in safety; 38and they will be my people, and I, I will be their God; 39and I will give them one heart and one way, to fear me all the days, for good to them and to their children after them;

40and I will cut for them an everlasting covenant^k, that I will not turn back from after them, to do them good; and my fear I will put in their heart, that they not turn aside from me. 41And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in truth, with all my heart and with all my soul^l.

42For thus says the LORD: Just as I brought upon this people all this great evil, so I am bringing upon them all the good that I am speaking concerning them. 43And the field will be bought in this land of which you say: It is a desolation, without man and beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44Fields will be bought with silver, and writing in the book and sealing and causing witnesses to testify, in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the Negev; for I will cause their captivity to return, declares the LORD.