Jeremiah 32:1–15

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth^d year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth^e year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging^f Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined^g in the courtyard of the guard^h in the royal palace of Judah.

³Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesyⁱ as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture^j it. ⁴Zedekiah^k king of Judah will not escape^l the Babylonians^am but will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes. ⁵He will takeⁿ Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him,^o declares the Lord. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’ ”^p

⁶Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth,^q because as nearest relative it is your right and duty^r to buy it.’

⁸“Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field^s at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’

“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; ⁹so I bought the field^t at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels^b of silver.^{u 10}I signed and sealed the deed,^v had it witnessed,^w and weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy—¹²and I gave this deed to Baruch^x son of Neriah,^y the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

¹³“In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: ¹⁴‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed^z and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. ¹⁵For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’^a