32This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the tenth year Zedekiah was king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was surrounding Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was under arrest in the courtyard of the guard, which was at the palace of the king of Judah.

³Zedekiah king of Judah had put Jeremiah in prison there. Zedekiah had asked, “Why have you prophesied the things you have?” (Jeremiah had said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I will soon hand the city of Jerusalem over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. ⁴Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the Babylonian army, but he will surely be handed over to the king of Babylon. And he will speak to the king of Babylon face to face and see him with his own eyes. ⁵The king will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will stay until I have punished him,’ says the Lord. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’ ”)

⁶While Jeremiah was in prison, he said, “The Lord spoke this word to me: ⁷Your cousin Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you soon. Hanamel will say to you, ‘Jeremiah, you are my nearest relative, so buy my field near the town of Anathoth. It is your right and your duty to buy that field.’

⁸“Then it happened just as the Lord had said. My cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said to me, ‘Buy for yourself my field near Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. It is your right and duty to buy it and own it.’ So I knew this was a message from the Lord.

⁹“I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, weighing out seven ounces of silver for him. ¹⁰I signed the record and sealed it and had some people witness it. I also weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹Then I took both copies of the record of ownership—the one that was sealed that had the demands and limits of ownership, and the one that was not sealed. ¹²And I gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. My cousin Hanamel, the other witnesses who signed the record of ownership, and many Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard saw me give the record of ownership to Baruch.

¹³“With all the people watching, I told Baruch, ¹⁴‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Take both copies of the record of ownership—the sealed copy and the copy that was not sealed—and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. ¹⁵This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: In the future my people will once again buy houses and fields for grain and vineyards in the land of Israel.’

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