Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedeki′ah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrez′zar. ² 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 which was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³ For Zedeki′ah 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 take it; ⁴ Zedeki′ah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chalde′ans, 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; ⁵ and he shall take Zedeki′ah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, says the Lord; though you fight against the Chalde′ans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Behold, Han′amel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field which is at An′athoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸ Then Han′amel 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 which is at An′athoth 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.

⁹ “And I bought the field at An′athoth from Han′amel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; ¹² and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neri′ah son of Mahsei′ah, in the presence of Han′amel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³ I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴ ‘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. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

The Whole Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Personal Matters and Benediction

²¹ Now that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tych′icus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. ²² I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

²³ Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love undying.

¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neri′ah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ ‘Ah Lord God! It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for thee, ¹⁸ who showest steadfast love to thousands, but dost requite the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of hosts, ¹⁹ great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings; ²⁰ who hast shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and hast made thee a name, as at this day. ²¹ Thou didst bring thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror; ²² and thou gavest them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; ²³ and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey thy voice or walk in thy law; they did nothing of all thou didst command them to do. Therefore thou hast made all this evil come upon them. ²⁴ 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 Chalde′ans who are fighting against it. What thou didst speak has come to pass, and behold, thou seest it. ²⁵ Yet thou, O Lord God, hast said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”— though the city is given into the hands of the Chalde′ans.’”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me? ²⁸ Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chalde′ans and into the hand of Nebuchadrez′zar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ²⁹ The Chalde′ans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Ba′al and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. ³⁰ For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; the sons of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says the Lord. ³¹ 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 ³² because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³ 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. ³⁴ They set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵ They built the high places of Ba′al 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.

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. ² And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶ As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, ⁷ saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo′am” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. ⁸ The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” ¹⁰ They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Silo′am and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them. ¹⁷ So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age, ask him.”

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of man?”^{[a] 36} He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe”; and he worshiped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, “Are we also blind?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.