Jeremiah 32–34

CHAPTER 32

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the ^atenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

²Now at that time the military force of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the ^acourt of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah,

³because Zedekiah king of Judah had ^ashut him up, saying, “Why do you ^bprophesy, saying, ‘^cThus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am about to ^dgive this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it;

⁴and Zedekiah king of Judah will ^anot escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will ^bspeak with him ¹face to face and see him eye to eye;

⁵and he will ^alead Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I ¹visit him,” declares Yahweh. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will ^bnot succeed” ’?”

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

⁷‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, “Buy for yourself my field which is at ^aAnathoth, for you have the ^blegal judgment for redemption to buy it.” ’

⁸“Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the ^acourt of the guard according to the word of Yahweh and said to me, ‘Buy my field, please, that is at ^bAnathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the legal judgment for possession, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the ^cword of Yahweh.

⁹“I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and I ^aweighed out the silver for him, seventeen ^1bshekels of silver.

¹⁰“And I ^1asigned and ^bsealed the deed and ^ccalled in witnesses and weighed out the silver on the scales.

¹¹“Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the ^acommandment and statutes and the open copy,

¹²and I gave the deed of purchase to ^aBaruch the son of ^bNeriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.

¹³“And I commanded Baruch in their sight, saying,

¹⁴‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds—this deed of purchase—that is the sealed one as well as this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may ¹last a long time.”

¹⁵‘For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “^aHouses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” ’

Jeremiah Prays, Yahweh Responds

¹⁶“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, then I ^aprayed to Yahweh, saying,

¹⁷‘^aAh Lord Yahweh! Behold, You have ^bmade the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! ^cNothing is too difficult for You,

¹⁸who ^ashows lovingkindness to thousands, but ^brepays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O ^cgreat and ^dmighty God. ^eYahweh of hosts is His name,

^19agreat in counsel and abundant in deeds, whose ^beyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, ^cgiving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds,

²⁰who has ^aset signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have ^bmade a name for Yourself, as at this day.

²¹‘You ^abrought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror

²²and gave them this land, which You ^aswore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

²³‘They ^acame in and took possession of it, but they ^bdid not listen to Your voice and did not ^cwalk in Your law. They have not done anything that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made ^dall this harmful evil come upon them.

²⁴‘Behold, the ^asiege ramps have come to the city to capture it; and the city is ^bgiven into the hand of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, because of the ^csword, the famine, and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has ^dhappened; and behold, You see it.

²⁵‘And You have said to me, O Lord Yahweh, “Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”—but the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’”

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

²⁷“Behold, I am Yahweh, the ^aGod of all flesh; is anything ^btoo difficult for Me?”

²⁸Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am about to ^agive this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

²⁹“And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and ^aset this city on fire and burn it, with the ^bhouses where people have burned incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

³⁰“Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only ^aevil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only ^bprovoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares Yahweh.

³¹“Indeed this city has been to Me a ^aprovocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be ^bremoved from before My face

³²because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their ^akings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³“And they have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, ^arising up early and teaching, they would not listen ¹and receive discipline.

³⁴“But they ^aput their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.

³⁵“And they built the ^ahigh places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to ^bMolech, which I had not commanded them, nor had it come upon My heart that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

³⁶“So now, therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you are saying, ‘It is ^agiven into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.’

³⁷“Behold, I will ^agather them out of all the lands to which I have banished them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will cause them to return to this place and ^bmake them inhabit it in safety.

³⁸“And they shall be ^aMy people, and I will be their God;

³⁹and I will ^agive them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own ^bgood and for the good of their children after them.

⁴⁰“And I will cut an ^aeverlasting covenant with them that I will ^bnot turn away from them, to do them good; and I will ^cput the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.

⁴¹“And I will ^arejoice over them to do them good and will truly ^bplant them in this land with ^call My heart and with all My soul.

⁴²“For thus says Yahweh, ‘^aJust as I brought all this great evil on this people, so I am going to ^bbring on them all the good that I am promising them.

⁴³‘^aThus fields will be bought in this land of which you all are saying, “^bIt is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”

⁴⁴‘Men will buy fields for money, ^1asign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the ^bland of Benjamin, in the surroundings of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the ²Shephelah, and in the cities of the ³Negev; for I will ^4creturn their ⁵fortunes,’ declares Yahweh.”

CHAPTER 33

Yahweh Will Pardon the People’s Iniquity

¹Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still ^1aconfined in the court of the guard, saying,

²“Thus says ^aYahweh who made ¹the earth, Yahweh who formed it to establish it; ^bYahweh is His name,

³‘^aCall to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you ^bgreat and mighty things, ^cwhich you do not know.’

⁴“For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the ^ahouses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are torn down to make a defense against the ^bsiege ramps and against the sword,

⁵‘While they are coming to ^afight with the Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have struck down in My anger and in My wrath, and I have ^bhidden My face from this city because of all their evil:

⁶‘Behold, I will bring to it ^ahealth and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an ^babundance of peace and truth.

⁷‘I will ^1areturn the ²fortunes of Judah and the ³fortunes of Israel and will ^brebuild them as they were at first.

⁸‘And I will ^acleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.

⁹‘And ¹it will be to Me a ^aname of joy, praise, and beauty before ^ball the nations of the earth which will hear of all the ^cgood that I do for them, and they will ^dbe in dread and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

¹⁰“Thus says Yahweh, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a ^awaste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are ^bdesolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,

¹¹the voice of ^ajoy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,

“^bGive thanks to Yahweh of hosts,

For Yahweh is good,

For His lovingkindness endures forever”;

and of those who bring a ^cthank offering into the house of Yahweh. For I will ¹return the ²fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says Yahweh.

¹²“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, ^awithout man or beast, and in all its cities, ¹an abode of shepherds who cause their ^bflocks to lie down.

¹³‘In the ^acities of the hill country, in the…