The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of
Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was
besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the
court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. For
Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you
prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this
city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the
Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to
eye. And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall
remain until I visit him, declares the LORD. Though you fight
against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”
Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me: Behold, Hanamel
the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my
field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase
is yours.’ Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the
guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me,
‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the
right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’
Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
“And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and
weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed
the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on
scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the
terms and conditions and the open copy. And I gave the deed of
purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the
presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who
signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans
who were sitting in the court of the guard. I charged Baruch in
their presence, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and
this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they
may last for a long time. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in
this land.’
“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of
Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who
have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your
outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast
love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their
children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD
of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open
to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one
according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. You
have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day
in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself,
as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of
Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched
arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you
swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and
honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not
obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you
commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster
come upon them. Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city
to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city
is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against
it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. Yet
you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get
witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the
Chaldeans.’”
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Behold, I am the LORD,
the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Therefore, thus
says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the
Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and
he shall capture it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this
city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the
houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink
offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to
anger. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have
done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of
Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of
their hands, declares the LORD. This city has aroused my anger and
wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove
it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel
and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to
anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their
prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They
have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have
taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive
instruction. They set up their abominations in the house that is
called by my name, to defile it. They built the high places of Baal
in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and
daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it
enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause
Judah to sin.
“Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning
this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king
of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will
gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my
anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back
to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall
be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart
and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and
the good of their children after them. I will make with them an
everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to
them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may
not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will
plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all
my soul.
“For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great
disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good
that I promise them. Fields shall be bought in this land of which
you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is
given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ Fields shall be bought for
money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the
land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities
of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the
Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their
fortunes, declares the LORD.”
