Jeremiah 32

1This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign over Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar’s reign. 2The army of the king of Babylon was then laying siege to Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was being held in the courtyard of the guard at the palace of the king of Judah, 3for Zedekiah king of Judah had confined him there. He had said, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘The LORD says this: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 4Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the Chaldeans. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon; he will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes. 5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and Zedekiah will stay there until I deal with him, declares the LORD. Even if you fight the Chaldeans, you will have no success.’”

6Jeremiah said: The word of the LORD came to me: 7“Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, for as the family redeemer you have the right to buy it.’” 8Then my cousin Hanamel visited me in the courtyard of the guard, just as the LORD had said. He told me, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The right of inheritance is yours, and so is the right of redemption; buy it for yourself.” I knew then that this was the word of the LORD. 9So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out the price for him: about 7 ounces of silver. 10I signed the deed and sealed it, had it witnessed, and weighed the silver on scales. 11Then I took the deed of purchase, both the sealed copy, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy. 12I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, while my cousin Hanamel looked on, along with the witnesses who had signed the deed and all the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard. 13In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 14“The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says this: Take these documents, this deed of purchase, both the sealed copy and the open one, and put them in a clay jar so that they will last for a long time.

15For the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says this: People will once more buy houses, fields and vineyards in this land.”

16Once I had given Baruch son of Neriah the deed of purchase, I prayed to the LORD: 17“Oh, Lord GOD! You are the one who made the heavens and the earth with your great strength, with your arm stretched out. There is nothing too hard for you. 18You show loyal love to thousands, yet you pay back the guilt of parents into the laps of their children after them. You are the great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of Armies, 19great in purpose and mighty in action. Your eyes are open to all the ways of humankind, to give each person what their ways deserve and what the fruit of their deeds has earned. 20You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and have done so to this day, both in Israel and among all humankind. You have made a name for yourself that is known to this day. 21With signs and wonders you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror. 22You gave them this land that you had sworn to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey your voice or live by your instruction. They did nothing of all you had commanded them to do, and so you have made all this disaster fall on them. 24Look, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it. Because of sword, famine and plague, the city is being handed over to the Chaldeans who are attacking it. What you said has come about, and you can see it. 25Yet you, Lord GOD, have told me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the sale witnessed,’ though the city is being handed over to the Chaldeans!” 26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 27“Look, I am the LORD, the God of all humanity. Is there anything too hard for me? 28Therefore the LORD says this: I am about to hand this city over to the Chaldeans and to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 29The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter it and set it ablaze. They will burn it, and the houses too, where people burned incense to Baal on the roofs and poured drink offerings to other gods, provoking me to anger. 30From their youth the Israelites and the people of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight. The Israelites have done nothing but provoke me with what their hands have made, declares the LORD. 31This city has stirred up my anger and my fury from the day it was built until now, so that I must remove it from my sight, 32because of all the evil the Israelites and the people of Judah have done to provoke me: they themselves, their kings, their officials, their priests and their prophets, the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. 33They have turned their backs to me, not their faces. I taught them again and again, but they did not listen or accept correction. 34They placed their detestable idols in the house that bears my name and so defiled it. 35They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire for Molech, a thing I never commanded them and that never entered my mind, that they should do this detestable thing and so lead Judah into sin.

36But now the LORD, the God of Israel, says this about this city, of which you are saying, ‘It is being handed over to the king of Babylon by sword, famine and plague’: 37I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I have driven them in my anger, my rage and my great fury. I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39I will give them one heart and one way, so they will fear me for all time. It will be for their good, and for the good of their children who come after them. 40I will make with them a covenant that is everlasting: I will not turn back from them, but will keep on doing them good. I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they never turn aside from me. 41I will delight in doing them good. With all my heart and all my soul I will plant them faithfully in this land.

42For the LORD says this: As I have brought on this people all this great disaster, so I will bring on them all the good I promise them. 43Fields will be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolate waste, with no people or animals; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans.’ 44People will buy fields with silver, sign deeds, seal them and have them witnessed, in Benjamin’s territory and the places around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and the towns of the hill country, and in the towns of the western foothills and of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD.”