THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

 

Jeremiah Chapter 32

1 ¶ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

2 For at that time the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guards, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.

3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy, and say, The LORD says, Know that I will deliver this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it;

4 And Zedekiah the king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but will certainly be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him mouth to mouth, and look into his eyes;

5 And he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will remain there until I attend to him, says the LORD: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you will not prevail.

6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

7 Know that, Hanameel the son of your uncle Shallum will come to you, saying, Buy my field which is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.

8 So my uncle Hanameel’s son came to me in the court of the prison just as the LORD had said, and said to me, Please buy my field, which is in Anathoth, in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance and redemption belongs to you; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

9 So I bought the field from my cousin Hanameel, who was in Anathoth, and weighed him out the price, namely seventeen shekels of silver.

10 I wrote down the agreement, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed to him the money in the balances.

11 Then I took the written agreement of the purchase, both the copy that was sealed according to the law and custom, and the one that was open:

12 And I gave the record of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, as Hanameel my uncle’s son watched, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the scroll recording the purchase, and before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.

13 And I gave Baruch an order in their presence, saying,

14 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says; Take these documents, these records of the purchase, both the one that is sealed, and the record that is open; and put them in a clay jar, so that they will last a long time.

15 For the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says; Houses, fields and vineyards will again be owned in this land.

16 ¶ Now when I had delivered the records of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying,

17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:

18 You show loving-kindness to thousands, and punish children who follow after the sins of their fathers: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,

19 Great in counsel, and mighty in deed: for your eyes see all the ways of the sons of men: to reward each one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:

20 Who has wrought signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day continues to do so, both in Israel, and among other men; and have made yourself a name, as it is today;

21 And brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror;

22 And have given them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;

23 And they came in, and took possession of it; but they did not obey your voice, or walk in your law; they have not done anything that you commanded them to do: that is why you have caused all this calamity to come upon them:

24 Look siege mounds, have been raised up against the city to conquer it; and the city has been delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, who fight against it: and because of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence: what you have said is coming to pass; and, behold, you are seeing it.

25 And yet you, O Lord GOD, have told me buy a field with money, and take witnesses; even while the city is delivered to the Chaldeans.

26 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

28 Therefore the LORD says; Know that I will deliver this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and he will conquer it:

29 And the Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come in and set fire to this city, and burn it along with the houses, on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD.

31 For this city has provoked me to anger and infuriated me from the day that they built it to now; I will therefore remove it from my presence,

32 Because of all the evil that the children of Israel and the children of Judah, have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, 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: although I was eager to teach them, they refused to listen and receive instruction.

34 But they set up their abominations in the temple, which is called by my name, to defile it.

35 And they built the high places for Baal, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to sacrifice their sons and their daughters by fire to Molech; which I did not tell them to do, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do this abomination, and cause Judah to sin.

36 Therefore now the LORD, the God of Israel says this, concerning this city, of which you say, It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence;

37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, where I have driven them in my anger, in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:

38 And they will be my people, and I will be their God:

39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, so that for their good, and the good of their descendants after them, they may fear me for ever:

40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, in which I will never turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they will not depart from me.

41 Yea, it will be my delight to do them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul.

42 For the LORD says; Just as I have brought this great disaster upon these people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.

43 And fields will be bought in this land, of which you say, It is a barren waste without man or animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

44 Men will buy fields for money, and record the transaction, and seal them, and get witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities in the hills, and in the cities in the lowlands, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause them to come back from their captivity, says the LORD.