Jerusalem’s Doom Is Sealed

21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when ^(A)King Zedekiah sent to him ^(B)Pashhur the son of Melchiah, and ^(C)Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, ^2 (D)“Please inquire of the Lord for us, for ^[a]Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us.”

³ Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the ^[b]Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and ^(E)I will assemble them in the midst of this city. ⁵ I ^(F)Myself will fight against you with an ^(G)outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. ⁶ I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷ And afterward,” says the Lord, ^(H)“I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. ^(I)He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.” ’

⁸ “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, ^(J)I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who ^(K)remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and ^[c]defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall ^(L)live, and his life shall be as a prize to him. ¹⁰ For I have ^(M)set My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the Lord. ^(N)“It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall ^(O)burn it with fire.” ’

Message to the House of David

¹¹ “And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹² O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

Prophecies Against the Kings of Judah

22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word, ² and say, ^(A)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates! ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(B)“Execute^[a] judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the ^(C)fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if you indeed do this thing, ^(D)then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David. ⁵ But if you will not ^[b]hear these words, ^(E)I swear by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”

⁶ For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah:

⁸ And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ^(I)‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’ ⁹ Then they will answer, ^(J)‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”

Zedekiah Warned by God

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, ^(A)when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, ^(B)all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Go and ^(C)speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, ^(D)I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ³ And ^(E)you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you ^(F)face^[a] to face, and you shall go to Babylon.’ ” ’ ⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you: ‘You shall not die by the sword. ⁵ You shall die in peace; as in ^(G)the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, ^(H)so they shall burn incense for you and ^(I)lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!” For I have pronounced the word, says the Lord.’ ”

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only ^(J)these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(A)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up ^(B)in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. ³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you ^(C)prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(D)“Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴ and Zedekiah king of Judah ^(E)shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him ^[a]face to face, and see him ^(F)eye to eye; ⁵ then he shall ^(G)lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be ^(H)until I visit him,” says the Lord; ^(I)“though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ’?”

⁶ And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the ^(J)right of redemption is yours to buy it.” ’ ⁸ Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and ^(K)weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ And I signed the ^[b]deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. ¹¹ So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; ¹² and I gave the purchase deed to ^(L)Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the ^(M)witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.

¹³ “Then I charged ^(N)Baruch before them, saying, ¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.” ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be ^(O)possessed again in this land.” ’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(P)You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. ^(Q)There is nothing too ^[c]hard for You. ¹⁸ You show ^(R)lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, ^(S)the Mighty God, whose name is ^(T)the Lord of hosts. ¹⁹ You are ^(U)great in counsel and mighty in ^[d]work, for Your ^(V)eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, ^(W)to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. ²⁰ You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself ^(X)a name, as it is this day. ²¹ You ^(Y)have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; ²² You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—^(Z)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ²³ And they came in and took possession of it, but ^(AA)they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.

²⁴ ‘Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of ^(AB)the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! ²⁵ And You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses”!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

²⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, the ^(AC)God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? ²⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ²⁹ And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and ^(AD)set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses ^(AE)on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger; ³⁰ because the children of Israel and the children of Judah ^(AF)have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,’ says the Lord. ³¹ ‘For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; ^(AG)so I will remove it from before My face ³² because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—^(AH)they, their kings, their princes, their priests, ^(AI)their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³ And they have turned to Me the ^(AJ)back, and not the face; though I taught them, ^(AK)rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴ But they ^(AL)set their abominations in ^[e]the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³⁵ And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to ^(AM)cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to ^(AN)Molech, ^(AO)which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’

³⁶ “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: ³⁷ Behold, I will ^(AP)gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them ^(AQ)to dwell safely. ³⁸ They shall be ^(AR)My people, and I will be their God; ³⁹ then I will ^(AS)give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. ⁴⁰ And ^(AT)I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but ^(AU)I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. ⁴¹ Yes, ^(AV)I will rejoice over them to do them good, and ^(AW)I will ^[f]assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’

⁴² “For thus says the Lord: ^(AX)‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³ And fields will be bought in this land ^(AY)of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴ Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in ^(AZ)the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the ^[g]lowland, and in the cities of the ^[h]South; for ^(BA)I will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord.”