Jeremiah 29–31

Chapter 29

¹And these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon ²(after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem); ³by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkijah (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying, ⁴Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon: ⁵Build houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. ⁶Take wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and be not diminished. ⁷And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto Jehovah for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

⁸For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in your midst, nor your diviners deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams, which ye like to dream. ⁹For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith Jehovah. ¹⁰For thus saith Jehovah: When seventy years shall be accomplished for Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in bringing you back to this place. ¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you in your latter end a hope. ¹²And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you; ¹³and ye shall seek me and find me, for ye shall search for me with all your heart, ¹⁴and I will be found of you, saith Jehovah. And I will turn your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again into the place whence I have caused you to be carried away captive.

¹⁵If ye say, Jehovah hath raised us up prophets in Babylon; ¹⁶yea, thus saith Jehovah concerning the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people that dwell in this city, your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; ¹⁷thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will send against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like the vile figs, that cannot be eaten for badness. ¹⁸And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will give them over to be driven hither and thither into all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I will drive them: ¹⁹because they have not hearkened to my words, saith Jehovah, wherewith I sent unto them my servants the prophets, rising early and sending; but ye have not hearkened, saith Jehovah. ²⁰But ye, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of Jehovah. ²¹Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsehood unto you in my name: Behold, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall smite them before your eyes. ²²And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; ²³because they have committed infamy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken words of falsehood in my name, which I had not commanded them: and I am he that knoweth, and am witness, saith Jehovah.

²⁴And thou shalt speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, ²⁵Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶Jehovah hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there should be officers in the house of Jehovah, over every madman and self-made prophet, that thou shouldest put him in the stocks and in the shackles. ²⁷And now, why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh himself a prophet to you? ²⁸Forasmuch as he hath sent unto us in Babylon, saying, It will be long; build houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. ²⁹—And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of the prophet Jeremiah. ³⁰And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying, ³¹Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he hath caused you to trust in falsehood; ³²therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he see the good that I will do for my people, saith Jehovah; because he hath spoken revolt against Jehovah.

Chapter 30

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Thus speaketh Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, Write thee in a book all the words that I have spoken unto thee. ³For behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. ⁴And these are the words that Jehovah hath spoken concerning Israel and concerning Judah; ⁵for thus saith Jehovah: We have heard a voice of trembling, there is fear, and no peace. ⁶Ask ye now, and see, whether a male doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail; and all faces are turned into paleness? ⁷Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. ⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more reduce him to servitude. ⁹But they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

¹⁰And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith Jehovah; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. ¹¹For I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to save thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee; yet of thee will I not make a full end, but I will correct thee with judgment, and will not hold thee altogether guiltless. ¹²For thus saith Jehovah: Thy bruise is incurable, thy wound is grievous. ¹³There is none to plead thy cause, to bind up thy wound; thou hast no healing medicines. ¹⁴All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not. For I have smitten thee with the stroke of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of thine iniquity: thy sins are manifold. ¹⁵Why criest thou because of thy bruise? thy sorrow is incurable; for the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins are manifold, I have done these things unto thee. ¹⁶Therefore all that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be for a spoil; and all they that prey upon thee will I give to be a prey. ¹⁷For I will apply a bandage unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith Jehovah; for they have called thee an outcast: This is Zion that no man seeketh after.

¹⁸Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will turn the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his habitations; and the city shall be built upon her own heap; and the palace shall be inhabited after the manner thereof. ¹⁹And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished; and I will honour them, and they shall not be small. ²⁰And their sons shall be as aforetime; and their assembly shall be established before me; and I will punish all that oppress them. ²¹And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to approach, and he shall draw near unto me. For who is this that engageth his heart to draw near unto me? saith Jehovah. ²²And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²³Behold, a tempest of Jehovah, fury is gone forth, a sweeping storm: it shall whirl down upon the head of the wicked. ²⁴The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and until he have performed the purposes of his heart. At the end of the days ye shall consider it.

Chapter 31

¹At that time, saith Jehovah, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. ²Thus saith Jehovah: The people that were left of the sword have found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I go to give him rest. ³Jehovah hath appeared from afar unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. ⁴I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel! Thou shalt again be adorned with thy tambours, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. ⁵Thou shalt again plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat the fruit. ⁶For there shall be a day, when the watchmen upon mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion, unto Jehovah our…