²³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: When I restore their fortunes in the land of Judah and in its cities, they shall again use this greeting: “May the Lord bless you, Tent of Justice, Holy Mountain!”^{(A) 24} Judah and all its cities, the farmers and those who lead the flock shall dwell there together. ²⁵ For I will slake the thirst of the faint; the appetite of all the weary I will satisfy. ²⁶ At this I awoke and opened my eyes; my sleep was satisfying.^[a]

²⁷ See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of human beings and the seed of animals. ²⁸ As I once watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, to destroy, and to harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant—oracle of the Lord.^{(B) 29} In those days they shall no longer say,

³⁰ but all shall die because of their own iniquity: the teeth of anyone who eats unripe grapes shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant.^{[c] 31} See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.^{(D) 32} It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master—oracle of the Lord.^{(E) 33} But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days—oracle of the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.^{(F) 34} They will no longer teach their friends and relatives, “Know the Lord!” Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me—oracle of the Lord—for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin.^(G)

Certainty of God’s Promise

Jerusalem Rebuilt.^{[d] 38} See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when the city shall be rebuilt as the Lord’s,^(J) from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ A measuring line shall be stretched from there straight to the hill Gareb and then turn to Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley of corpses and ashes, all the terraced slopes toward the Wadi Kidron, as far as the corner of the Horse Gate at the east, shall be holy to the Lord. Never again shall the city be uprooted or demolished.

Chapter 32

Pledge of Restoration.^{[e] 1} The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah,^[f] king of Judah, the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, while Jeremiah the prophet was confined to the court of the guard, in the house of the king of Judah.^{(K) 3} Zedekiah, king of Judah, had confined him there, saying: “How dare you prophesy: Thus says the Lord: I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon that he may capture it.^{(L) 4} Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape the hands of the Chaldeans: he shall indeed be handed over to the king of Babylon. He shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.^{(M) 5} He shall take Zedekiah to Babylon. There he shall remain, until I attend to him—oracle of the Lord. If you fight against the Chaldeans, you cannot win!”^(N)

^6 [g]Jeremiah said, This word came to me from the Lord: ⁷ Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you with the offer:^(O) “Purchase my field in Anathoth, since you, as nearest relative, have the first right of purchase.”^{[h] 8} And, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard and said, “Please purchase my field in Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin; as nearest relative, you have the first right of possession—purchase it for yourself.” Then I knew this was the word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, weighing out for him the silver, seventeen shekels of silver.

¹⁰ When I had written and sealed the deed, called witnesses and weighed out the silver on the scales, ¹¹ I accepted the deed of purchase, both the sealed copy, containing title and conditions, and the open copy.^{[i] 12} I gave this deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase and before all the Judahites sitting around in the court of the guard.^(P)

¹³ In their presence I gave Baruch this charge: ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds of purchase, both the sealed and the open deeds, and put them in an earthenware jar,^[j] so they can last a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: They shall again purchase houses and fields and vineyards in this land.

¹⁶ After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord: ¹⁷ Ah, my Lord God! You made the heavens and the earth with your great power and your outstretched arm; nothing is too difficult for you.^{(Q) 18} You continue your kindness through a thousand generations; but you repay the ancestors’ guilt upon their children who follow them. Great and mighty God, whose name is Lord of hosts,^{(R) 19} great in counsel, mighty in deed, whose eyes are fixed on all the ways of mortals, giving to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds:^{(S) 20} you performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day, in Israel and among all peoples, you have made a name for yourself as on this day.^{(T) 21} You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and great terror. ²² And you gave them this land, as you had sworn to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(U) 23} They went in and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice. They did not live by your law; they did not do anything you commanded them to do. Then you made all this evil fall upon them.^{(V) 24} See, the siegeworks have arrived at this city to capture it; the city is handed over to the Chaldeans who are attacking it, with sword, starvation, and disease. What you threatened has happened—you can see it for yourself.^{(W) 25} Yet you told me, my Lord God: Purchase the field with silver and summon witnesses, when the city has already been handed over to the Chaldeans!

²⁶ Then this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ I am the Lord, the God of all the living! Is anything too difficult for me? ²⁸ Therefore the Lord says: I am handing over this city to the Chaldeans and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ²⁹ The Chaldeans who are attacking this city shall go in and set the city on fire, burning it and the houses, on whose roofs incense was burned to Baal and libations were poured out to other gods in order to provoke me.^{(X) 30} From their youth the Israelites and the Judahites have been doing only what is evil in my eyes; the Israelites have been provoking me with the works of their hands—oracle of the Lord.^{(Y) 31} This city has so stirred my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, that I must put it out of my sight, ³² for all the evil the Israelites and Judahites have done to provoke me—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.^{(Z) 33} They turned their backs to me, not their faces; though I taught them persistently, they would not listen or accept correction.^{(AA) 34} Instead they set up their abominations in the house which bears my name in order to defile it.^{(AB) 35} They built high places to Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech;^[k] I never commanded them to do this, nor did it even enter my mind that they would practice this abomination, so as to bring sin upon Judah.^(AC)

³⁶ Now, therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city, which you say is being handed over to the king of Babylon by means of the sword, starvation, and disease: ³⁷ See, I am gathering them from all the lands to which I drove them in my rising fury and great anger; I will bring them back to this place and settle them here in safety.^{(AD) 38} They shall be my people, and I will be their God.^{(AE) 39} I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me always, for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ With them I will make an everlasting covenant, never to cease doing good to them; I will put fear of me in their hearts so that they never turn away from me.^{(AF) 41} I will take delight in doing good to them: I will plant them firmly in this land, with all my heart and soul.^(AG)

⁴² For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought upon this people all this great evil, so I will bring upon them all the good I have promised them.^{(AH) 43} Fields shall be purchased in this land, about which you say, “It is a wasteland, without human beings or animals, handed over to the Chaldeans.”^{(AI) 44} They will purchase fields with silver, write up deeds, seal them, and have them witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah and of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah and the Negeb, when I restore their fortunes—oracle of the Lord.^(AJ)

Appeal for a Return to God^[e]

The Bread of Life Discourse. ^22 [a]The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. ^23 [b]Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴ When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. ²⁵ And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life,^[c] which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”^{(A) 28} So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” ³⁰ So they said to him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?^{(B) 31 [d]}Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:^(C)

³² So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.^{(D) 33} For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

^34 (E)So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” ^35 [e]Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.^{(F) 36} But I told you that although you have seen [me], you do not believe.^{(G) 37} Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, ³⁸ because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.^{(H) 39} And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day.^{(I) 40} For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day.”^(J)