The Anselm Project

Chapter 32

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah—that is, the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² And the forces of the king of Babel were besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah. ³ whom Zedekiah king of Judah imprisoned, saying, "Why are you prophesying, saying, 'This is what the LORD says: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babel, and he will capture it'?" ⁴ Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, for he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babel, and his mouth will speak with his mouth, and his eyes will see with his eyes. ⁵ And Zedekiah will be led to Babylon, and there he will be until I visit him—the utterance of the LORD—for if you fight the Chaldeans, you will not succeed. ⁶ Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying," ⁷ Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle has come to you, saying, "Buy for yourself the field that is in Anathoth, for to you is the right of redemption to buy it." ⁸ And Hanamel son of my uncle came to me according to the word of the LORD to the courtyard of the guard and said to me, "Buy please my field that is in Anathoth, that is in the land of Benjamin, for to you is the judgment of inheritance and to you is the redemption. Buy for yourself." And I knew that it was the word of the LORD. ⁹ And I bought the field from Hanamel, my uncle's son, who was in Anathoth, and I weighed out the silver to him—seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ And I wrote it in the book and sealed it and testified to witnesses and weighed the silver in the balances. ¹¹ And I took the deed of purchase, the sealed one with the commandment and the statutes, and the open one. ¹² And I gave the book of the property deed to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah in the sight of Hanamel my relative and in the sight of the witnesses who were writing in the book of the property deed, in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³ And I commanded Baruch before their eyes, saying: ¹⁴ The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents—this deed of purchase and the sealed one, and this open document—and put them in an earthen vessel so that they may last many days. ¹⁵ For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards will yet be bought in this land. ¹⁶ And I prayed to the LORD after I gave the book of the purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, saying: ¹⁷ Ah, Lord the LORD! Behold, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing will be extraordinary for you; every divine word. ¹⁸ doing steadfast love to thousands and making restitution for the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their sons after them—the God, the great, the mighty one, the LORD of Hosts; his name. ¹⁹ Great is the counsel and great is the doing which your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of man to give to a man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ²⁰ which you have put signs and wonders in the land of Egypt until this day and in Israel and among mankind, and you have made for yourself a name as at this day. ²¹ You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders and a strong hand and an outstretched arm and great terror. ²² And you gave them this land which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ And they came and possessed it, but they did not obey your voice, and they did not walk in your Torah; they did not do all that you commanded them to do, and you called all this evil upon them. ²⁴ Look, the siege mounds have come to the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it because of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence. What you spoke has happened, and look, you are seeing it. ²⁵ And you said to me, Lord GOD, "Buy the field for yourself with silver and call witnesses," and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying: ²⁷ Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too wondrous for me? ²⁸ Therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it. ²⁹ And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come and set this city on fire and burn it and the houses on whose roofs they offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke me to anger. ³⁰ For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have only been doing evil in my eyes from their youth, for the sons of Israel only provoke me with the work of their hands, says the LORD. ³¹ For this city has been a provocation to my anger and wrath from the day they built it until this day, so that I should remove it from before my face. ³² On account of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and every man of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³ And they turned their backs to me and not their faces. And though I taught them, rising early and teaching them, they did not listen to receive discipline. ³⁴ And they put their abominations in the house over which my name is called, to defile it. ³⁵ And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to pass over their sons and their daughters to the King which I did not command them, and it did not come up on my heart to do this abomination in order to sin Judah. ³⁶ And now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning this city that you are saying has been given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword and by famine and by pestilence. ³⁷ Behold, I am gathering them from all the lands where I drove them in my anger and in my wrath and in great indignation, and I am bringing them back to this place and making them dwell securely. ³⁸ And they will be to me for a people, and I will be to them for God. ³⁹ And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me all the days, for their good and the good of their sons after them. ⁴⁰ And I will cut for them an eternal covenant, which I will not turn away from behind them to do them good, and I will give my fear in their heart so as not to turn away from upon me. ⁴¹ And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in truth with all my heart and with all my soul. ⁴² For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought upon this people all this great evil, so I am bringing upon them all the good that I have spoken concerning them. ⁴³ And fields will be bought in this land of which you are saying, “It is desolation, without man and beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴ They will buy fields with silver and write in a book and seal it and call witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in the surroundings of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the hill country and in the cities of the Shephelah and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their captivity—utterance of the LORD.