Jeremiah 32–34

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ⁿin the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^owhich was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^pwas shut up in ^qthe court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^rBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; ^4sZedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^rbut 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. ⁵And ^the shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^uThough you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^v‘Buy my field that is at ^wAnathoth, ^xfor the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^qthe court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^wAnathoth 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.

⁹“And I bought the field at ^wAnathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^yweighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ^10zI signed the deed, ^asealed it, ^bgot witnesses, and ^yweighed the money on scales. 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 ^cBaruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of ^dthe witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in ^qthe court of the guard. ¹³I charged ^cBaruch in their presence, saying, 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 ^efields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶“After I had given the deed of purchase to ^fBaruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷‘Ah, Lord God! It is ^gyou who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ^hyour outstretched arm! ⁱNothing is too hard for you. ^18jYou show steadfast love to thousands, ^jbut you repay the guilt of fathers ^kto their children after them, O great and ^lmighty God, whose name is the ^mLord of hosts, ¹⁹ⁿgreat in counsel and ^omighty in deed, ^pwhose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, ^qrewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ²⁰You have shown ^rsigns and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, ^sand have made a name for yourself, as at this day. ^21tYou brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and ^uoutstretched arm, ^tand with great terror. ²²And you gave them this land, ^vwhich you swore to their fathers to give them, ^va land flowing with milk and honey. ²³And they entered and took possession of it. ^wBut 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. ²⁴Behold, ^xthe siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ^ybecause of sword and famine and pestilence ^zthe 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. ²⁵Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ^a“Buy the field for money ^band get witnesses”—though ^zthe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’ ”

²⁶The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷“Behold, I am the Lord, ^cthe God of all flesh. ^dIs anything too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord: ^eBehold, 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. ²⁹The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city ^fshall come and set this city on fire and burn it, ^gwith the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal ^gand drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, ^hto provoke me to anger. ³⁰For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ⁱfrom their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but ^hprovoke me to anger ^jby the work of their hands, declares the Lord. ³¹This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, ^kso that I will remove it from my sight ³²because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—^ltheir kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^33mThey have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them ⁿpersistently, they have not listened ^oto receive instruction. ³⁴They set up ^ptheir abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵They built the high places of Baal ^qin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^rto offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ^sthough I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ^pthis abomination, ^tto cause Judah to sin.

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, ^u‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: ^37vBehold, I will gather them from all the countries ^wto which I drove them in ^xmy anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, ^yand I will make them dwell in safety. ^38zAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ^39aI will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, ^bfor their own good and the good of their children after them. ^40cI will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. ^dAnd I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ^41eI will rejoice in doing them good, ^fand I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴²“For thus says the Lord: ^gJust as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ^43hFields shall be bought in this land ⁱof which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; ^jit is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴Fields shall be bought for money, and ^kdeeds shall be signed and ^ksealed and ^kwitnessed, ^lin the land of Benjamin, ^lin the places about Jerusalem, ^land in the cities of Judah, ^lin the cities of the hill country, ^lin the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for ^mI will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

The Lord Promises Peace

33The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still ⁿshut up in the court of the guard: ²“Thus says ^othe Lord who made the earth,¹ the Lord who formed it to establish it—^pthe Lord is his name: ^3qCall to me and I will answer you, ^rand will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. ⁴For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against ^sthe siege mounds and against the sword: ⁵They are coming in ^tto fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them² with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down ^uin my anger and my wrath, ^vfor I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil. ^6wBehold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. ^7xI will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, ^yand rebuild them as they were ^zat first. ^8aI will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, ^band I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. ^9cAnd this city³ shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall ^dfear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord: In this place ^eof which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again ^11fthe voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring ^gthank offerings to the house of the Lord:

^h“ ‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,

for the Lord is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!’

^xFor I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

¹²“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ⁱIn this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be ^jhabitations of shepherds ^kresting their flocks. ^13lIn the cities of the hill country, ^lin the cities of the Shephelah, ^land in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, ^lthe places about Jerusalem, ^land in the cities of Judah, ^mflocks shall again pass under the hands ⁿof the one who counts them, says the Lord.

The Lord’s Eternal Covenant with David

^14o“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^pI will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous ^qBranch to…