Jeremiah 32–34

Chapter 32

Jeremiah Imprisoned

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

²Now at that time the army 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 the Lord, “Behold, I am about to ^dgive this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take 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 ^atake Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” declares the Lord. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will ^bnot succeed” ’?”

⁶And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord 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 ^bright of 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 the Lord and said to me, ‘Buy my field, please, that is at ^bAnathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the ^cword of the Lord.

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

¹⁰“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 ^aterms and conditions 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, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.

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

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

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

Jeremiah Prays and God Explains

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

¹⁷‘^aAh Lord ¹God! 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. The ^eLord of hosts is His name;

^19agreat in counsel and mighty in deed, 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 forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

²³‘They ^acame in and took possession of it, but they ^bdid not obey Your voice or ^cwalk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made ^dall this calamity come upon them.

²⁴‘Behold, the ^asiege ramps have reached the city to take 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 ^dcome to pass; and behold, You see it.

²⁵‘You have said to me, O Lord ¹God, “Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”—although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”

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

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

²⁸Therefore thus says the Lord, “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 take it.

²⁹“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 offered 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 the Lord.

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 leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³“They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, ^1ateaching again and again, they would not listen ²and receive instruction.

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

³⁵“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 ¹entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

³⁶“Now therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, ‘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 driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and ^bmake them dwell in safety.

³⁸“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“I will make 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“I will ^arejoice over them to do them good and will ¹faithfully ^bplant them in this land with ^call My heart and with all My soul.

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

⁴³‘^aFields will be bought in this land of which you say, “^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 environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the ²Negev; for I will ^crestore their ³fortunes,’ declares the Lord.”

Chapter 33

Restoration Promised

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

²“Thus says ^athe Lord who made ¹the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the ^bLord 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 the Lord God of Israel concerning the ^ahouses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken 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 slain in My anger and in My wrath, and I have ^bhidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness:

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 ^arestore the ¹fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will ^brebuild them as they were at first.

⁸‘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‘¹It will be to Me a ^aname of joy, praise and glory before ^ball the nations of the earth which will hear of all the ^cgood that I do for them, and they will ^dfear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord, ‘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 the Lord of hosts,

For the Lord is good,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting”;

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

¹²“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, ^awithout man or beast, and in all its cities, a ¹habitation of shepherds who rest their ^bflocks.

¹³‘In the ^acities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again ^b…