Jeremiah 20-34

Tree of Life Version

Confronting a False Prophet

20 When Pashhur son of Immer the kohen, who was chief officer in the House of Adonai, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ² Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks^[a] at the Upper Benjamin Gate by the House of Adonai. ³ The following morning, Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks.

Then Jeremiah said to him, “Adonai no longer calls your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib^[b]. ⁴ For thus says Adonai: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror both to yourself and to everyone you love. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, while your eyes look on. So I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.

⁵ “Moreover I will give away all the wealth of this city, and all its produce and its precious things, even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon.

⁶ “As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity, and you will go to Babylon. So there you will die, and there you will be buried—you and all your friends—to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

Fire Burning in My Bones

Warning to King Zedekiah and Judah

21 The word which came to Jeremiah from Adonai, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the kohen, saying: ² “Please inquire of Adonai for us, since Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps Adonai would deal with us according to all His wondrous miracles—so that he would withdraw from us?”

³ Then said Jeremiah to them, “Thus will you say to Zedekiah, ⁴ thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: ‘I will soon turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you use to fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans, who are besieging you outside the walls—I will assemble them in the center of this city. ⁵ I myself will fight against you, with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even with anger, fury and in great wrath. ⁶ I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast—they will die of a great pestilence.’”

⁷ “Then afterward,” declares Adonai, “I will deliver King Zedekiah of Judah and his servants, as well as the people—those surviving in this city from the pestilence, the sword and the famine—into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their foes, yes, into the hand of those who seek their life. So he will smite them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them, nor have pity or compassion.”

⁸ Now to this people you will say, thus says Adonai: “Look, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, or by the pestilence. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you, he will live, and he will have his life as prize.”

¹⁰ “For I have set My face against this city for evil, not for good.” It is a declaration of Adonai. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”

¹¹ Also to the house of the king of Judah, hear the word of Adonai, ¹² O house of David, thus says Adonai: “Render justice by morning, and rescue the one who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Otherwise My fury will go forth like fire and burn so none can extinguish it, because of their evil deeds.”

¹³ “Here I am, against you, situated in the valley, a rocky plateau”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“You are saying, ‘Who would come down against us? Who would enter into our lairs?’ ¹⁴ I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

“Also I will set fire to her forest, and it will consume all around her.”

Warning to David’s Heirs

22 Thus said Adonai: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and speak this word:

² ‘Hear the word of Adonai, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you, your servants, and your people who enter by these gates.’ ³ Thus says Adonai: ‘Execute justice and righteousness. Rescue the one who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the fatherless or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if you really carry out this word, then through the gates of this palace will enter kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses—himself, his servants, and his people. ⁵ But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,’ declares Adonai, ‘that this palace will become a ruin.’”

⁶ For thus says Adonai concerning the house of the king of Judah:

⁸ Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say, each to his neighbor, ‘Why has Adonai done such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹ Then they will answer: ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Adonai their God, and worshipped other gods and served them.’”

¹¹ For thus says Adonai to Shallum, son of King Josiah of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah: “He who went forth from this place will never return there. ¹² Instead, in the place where they led him captive, there will he die—he will see this land no more.”

¹⁸ Therefore thus says Adonai about Jehoiakim son of King Josiah of Judah:

²⁴ “As I live,” declares Adonai, “even if Coniah son of King Jehoiakim of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off, ²⁵ and give you over into the hand of those seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ So I will cast you out, with your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born—and there will you die. ²⁷ But as for the land where they long to return, they will never return there.”

Gathering His Flock

23 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” It is a declaration of Adonai.

² Therefore thus says Adonai, the God of Israel, about the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and have not taken care of them. I will soon visit on you the evil of your deeds.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

³ “I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them back to their folds, and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴ I will raise up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing,” It is a declaration of Adonai.

The Righteous Branch

⁷ “Therefore behold, days are coming,” says Adonai, “when they will no longer say: ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.’ ⁸ Rather, ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ So they will dwell in their own soil.

Avoid Ungodly Prophets

²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets said, who prophesy lies in My Name, saying: ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ ²⁶ How long will this continue? Is there anything in the heart of such prophets prophesying lies? These prophets have deception in their heart. ²⁷ Through their dreams that they each tell to his companion, that intend to make My people forget My Name—just as their fathers forgot My Name because of Baal.

³⁰ “Therefore here I am against the prophets”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“who steal My words from each other. ³¹ Indeed, I am against the prophets”, declares Adonai, “who use their tongues to utter a prophecy, ‘It is a declaration!’ ³² Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” declares Adonai, “and tell them, and so lead My people astray with their lies and with their reckless boasts. Yet I never sent them or commanded them. Nor do they benefit this people at all.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

³³ “Now when this people or a prophet or a kohen is asking you: ‘What is the burden^[d] of Adonai?’ then you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will cast you off!’” It is a declaration of Adonai.

³⁴ “As for the prophet or kohen or people who keep saying, ‘The burden of Adonai!’—I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵ Thus each of you may say to his companion and each one to his brother, ‘What has Adonai answered?’ or ‘What has Adonai spoken?’ ³⁶ But you should no longer remember ‘the burden of Adonai’—for to each one, his own word is becoming ‘the burden’! So you have perverted the words of the living God, of Adonai-Tzva’ot our God.

³⁷ “So you are to say to such a prophet, ‘What has Adonai answered you?’ and ‘What has Adonai spoken?’ ³⁸ But if you say, ‘The burden of Adonai,’” then surely Adonai says, “because you keep saying this word: ‘The burden of Adonai,’ when I sent this word to you, you are not to say ‘The burden of Adonai’— ³⁹ therefore, I will surely forget you when I will cast you off, along with the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from My presence. ⁴⁰ Then I will bring everlasting disgrace on you and everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”

Parable of the Baskets of Figs

24 Adonai showed me, all of a sudden, there were two baskets of figs set before the Temple of Adonai. It was after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken away into exile Jeconiah son of King Jehoiakim of Judah and the princes of Judah, along with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

² One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe, but the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. ³ Then Adonai said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

So I said, “Figs—the good figs are very good, but the bad are very bad, and cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”

⁴ Then the word of Adonai came to me, saying, ⁵ thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Like these good figs, so will I regard the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place to the land of the Chaldeans, as good. ⁶ I will set My eyes on them as good. I will bring them back to this land, and I will build them up and not pull them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. ⁷ Then I will give them a heart to know Me—for I am Adonai—and they will be My people, and I will be their God.^[e] For they will return to Me with their whole heart.

⁸ “Now as for the bad figs, which cannot be eaten they are so bad”—surely thus says Adonai—“so I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, as well as those dwelling in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will even give them as a horror, as an evil thing, among all the kingdoms of the earth—as a disgrace and a proverb, a taunt and a curse—in all places where I will drive them. ¹⁰ I will also send the sword, famine and pestilence among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.”

Unheard Voice of the Prophets

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). ² Jeremiah the prophet spoke it to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: ³ “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day—these 23 years—the word of Adonai has come to me. So I have spoken to you, speaking early and often, but you have not listened. ⁴ Moreover, Adonai has sent to you all His servants the prophets, sending them early and often—but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear— ⁵ saying: ‘Turn, now, everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell in the land that Adonai has given to you and to your fathers forever and ever. ⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve them, to worship them, and so do not provoke Me with the work of your hands, so I would do you no harm.’

⁷ “Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares Adonai. “So you are provoking Me with the work of your hands, to your own hurt.”

⁸ Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Since you have not heard My words, ⁹ I will soon send for and bring all the families of the north”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and I will send for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, and a hissing, an enduring desolation.

¹⁰ “Moreover, I will silence among them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,^[f] the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

Seventy Years of Desolation

¹¹ “So this whole land will be a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years. ¹² Then it will come to pass, when 70 years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” declares Adonai, “the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it ruins forever. ¹³ I will bring on that land all My words which I pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴ For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them also. So I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their own hands.”

Cup of Fury and Reeling

¹⁵ For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel, to me: “Take this cup of the wine of fury from My hand, and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink it. ¹⁶ They will drink, and reel to and fro, and be like madmen, because of the sword that I will send among them. ¹⁷ Then I took the cup from Adonai’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom Adonai had sent me: ¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes—to make them an appalling horror and hissing, a curse as it is this day; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his princes and all his people; ²⁰ and all the mingled people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; ²¹ Edom, Moab, and Ammon’s children; ²² all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; ²³ Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who shave the corners^[g]; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed people dwelling in the wilderness; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media; ²⁶ all the kings of the north, either far or close to another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach^[h] will drink after them.”

²⁷ And you will say to them, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunken, vomit, fall down and rise no more, because of the sword that I will send among you.” ²⁸ And if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then here is what you will say to them: “Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, you will surely drink! ²⁹ See, I am beginning to bring evil on the city where My name is called, and should you go completely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth.” It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.

³⁰ Therefore you are to prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

³² Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:

“Evil will soon go forth from nation to nation. A great storm is being stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. ³³ Those slain by Adonai on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they will be dung on the surface of the ground.”

Surviving a Death Sentence

26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Adonai, saying, ² thus says Adonai: “Stand in the court of Adonai’s House, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in Adonai’s House all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not omit a word! ³ Perhaps they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way, so I may relent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.”

⁴ Then you will say to them, thus says Adonai: “If you will not listen to Me, by walking in My Torah, which I have set before you, ⁵ and by listening to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you, early and often—but you have not listened— ⁶ then I will make this House like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”

⁷ So the kohanim, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the House of Adonai.

⁸ Now when Jeremiah finished speaking all that Adonai had commanded him to speak to all the people, the kohanim and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying: “You will surely die! ⁹ Why have you prophesied in the Name of Adonai, saying, ‘This House will be like Shiloh, and this city will be an uninhabited ruin?’” Then all the people gathered against Jeremiah in the House of Adonai.

¹⁰ When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s palace to the House of Adonai, and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Adonai’s House. ¹¹ The kohanim and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying: “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying: “Adonai sent me to prophesy all the words you have heard against this House and against this city. ¹³ So now, mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Adonai your God; so Adonai will relent of the calamity that He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴ “But as for me, here I am in your hand; do with me as is good and right in your eyes. ¹⁵ Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants. For in truth Adonai has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

¹⁶ Then said the princes and all the people to the kohanim and to the prophets: “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the Name of Adonai our God.”

¹⁷ Then some of the elders of the land rose up and addressed all the assembly of the people, saying: ¹⁸ “Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:

¹⁹ “Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Adonai and plead for the favor of Adonai, and then Adonai relented of the calamity that He had pronounced against them? So we may be committing great evil against our own souls.”

²⁰ Now there was a man who had prophesied in the Name of Adonai, Uriah son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land words like all those of Jeremiah. ²¹ When King Jehoiakim with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt. ²² So King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt—Elnathan son of Achbor and some others with him— ²³ and they brought Uriah back from Egypt, and led him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with the sword and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴ Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they did not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Jeremiah Wears a Yoke

27 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying— ² thus says Adonai to me—“Make straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³ Then send such to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of Ammon’s children, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of messengers that come to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah. ⁴ Charge them to their masters, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, thus will you say to your masters: ⁵ ‘I have made the earth, mankind and beast which are on the face of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm—and I give it to whom it seems right to Me. ⁶ So now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant. I have even given the beasts of the field to serve him. ⁷ All the nations will serve him—and his son, and his grandson—until the time of his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.’

⁸ “Now it will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve the same King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,” declares Adonai, “until I have destroyed it by his hand. ⁹ But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreams, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ ¹⁰ For they prophesy a lie to you, in order to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out and you would perish.

¹¹ “But the nation that will bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will let remain in its land, and they will till it and dwell in it.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹² Then I spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah with all these same words, saying: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people—and live. ¹³ Why should you die—you and your people—by the sword, by famine, or by pestilence, as Adonai has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ Do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you.”

¹⁵ “For I have not sent them,” says Adonai, “and they prophesy falsely in My Name, with the result that I will drive you out, and that you will perish—you and the prophets that prophesy to you.”

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the kohanim and to all this people, saying, thus says Adonai: “Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying: ‘See, the vessels of Adonai’s House will now shortly be brought back from Babylon’—for they prophesy a lie to you. ¹⁷ Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a ruin? ¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the word of Adonai is with them, let them now make intercession to Adonai-Tzva’ot, that the vessels that are left in the House of Adonai, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, would not go to Babylon.”

¹⁹ For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot concerning the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, ²⁰ which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has not taken, when he carried away captive Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem, ²¹ yes, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the House of Adonai, in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem: ²² “They will be brought to Babylon, and there will they be until the day that I take note of them”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and bring them up and restore them to this place.”

A False Prophecy, Too Soon

28 Now it was the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah son of Azzur the prophet from Gibeon spoke to me in the House of Adonai, in the presence of the kohanim and of all the people, saying, ² thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, saying: “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon! ³ Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of Adonai’s House that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and brought to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, back to this place with all the captives of Judah that went to Babylon”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the kohanim and in the presence of all the people that stood in Adonai’s House. ⁶ So the prophet Jeremiah said: “Amen! May Adonai do so! May Adonai fulfill your words that you have prophesied, bringing back the vessels of Adonai’s House and all those who are taken away captive, from Babylon to this place! ⁷ Yet hear now this word that I am speaking in your ears and in the ears of all the people. ⁸ The prophets who have been before me and before you of ancient times prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms—of war, catastrophe and plague. ⁹ The prophet who prophesies shalom—when the word of the prophet has come to pass, then will the prophet be known as one that Adonai has truly sent.”

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke-bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. ¹¹ Hananiah proclaimed in the presence of all the people, saying, thus says Adonai: “Just so I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two full years.” So the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹² Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke-bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying: ¹³ “Go, tell Hananiah, saying, thus says Adonai: ‘You have broken the yoke-bars of wood—but in its place you will make yoke-bars of iron.’” ¹⁴ For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will serve him, and I have also given him the beasts of the field.”

¹⁵ Then said the prophet Jeremiah to the prophet Hananiah: “Hear now, Hananiah! Adonai has not sent you, yet you have caused this people to trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore thus says Adonai: I am about to send you away from off the face of the earth. This year you will die, since you have spoken apostasy against Adonai.”

¹⁷ So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

After Seventy Years, a Future Hope

29 Now these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the elders remaining in exile, as well as to the kohanim, the prophets and to all the people Nebuchadnezzar had carried off captive from Jerusalem to Babylon ² (after Jeconiah the king, the queen-mother, the officers, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the smiths, had to leave Jerusalem). The letter was sent ³ by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan, and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, ⁴ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, to all those in captivity, whom I removed as captives into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ “Build houses and live in them; also plant gardens and eat their fruit; ⁶ take wives and have sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷ Also seek the shalom of the city where I took you as captives in exile, and pray to Adonai for it—for in its shalom will you have shalom.”

⁸ For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Do not let your prophets who are among you or your diviners beguile you, and pay no attention to the dreams which you make them keep dreaming. ⁹ For they prophesy falsely to you in My Name; I have not sent them.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹⁰ For thus says Adonai: “After 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will visit you, and fulfill My good word toward you—to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans that I have in mind for you,” declares Adonai, “plans for shalom and not calamity—to give you a future and a hope.

¹² “Then you will call on Me, and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me,^[i] when you will search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ Then I will be found by you,” says Adonai, “and I will return you from exile, and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” says Adonai, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I removed you as captives into exile.”

¹⁵ For you have said: “Adonai has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.” ¹⁶ For thus says Adonai about the king who sits on the throne of David and about all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go with you into captivity, ¹⁷ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “I am about to send on them the sword, famine and pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with the sword, famine and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse and an astonishment, a hissing and a disgrace—among all the nations where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they have not listened to My words,” declares Adonai, “which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, sending them early and often, but you would not hear.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

²⁰ “But you, hear the word of Adonai, all you of the exile whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon,” ²¹ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, “concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: I will soon deliver them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—and he will slay them before your eyes. ²² So a curse will be taken up by everyone in exile from Judah who are in Babylon, saying: ‘May Adonai make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire’— ²³ because they have been disgraceful in Israel, committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives and speaking words in My Name falsely, which I did not command them. But I am the One who knows and I am witness.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

²⁴ Now concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you will surely say, ²⁵ thus declares Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, saying: “Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the kohen, and to all the kohanim, saying: ²⁶ ‘Adonai has made you kohen instead of Jehoiada the kohen, so that there should be officers in the House of Adonai for every madman prophesying and so that you will put him in the stocks and iron collar. ²⁷ So now, why haven’t you rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself out to be a prophet to you? ²⁸ For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying: “The exile will be long—build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”

²⁹ So Zephaniah the kohen read this letter in the ears of the prophet Jeremiah. ³⁰ Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, saying: ³¹ Send word to all of the captivity, saying, thus says Adonai concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,” ³² therefore thus says Adonai, “I will indeed punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. There will be none living among this people, and he will not see the good that I will do to My people,” declares Adonai, “because he has spoken rebellion against Adonai.”

Return From Exile

30 The word came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying: ² thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a scroll. ³ For behold, the days are coming,” declares Adonai, “when I will return My people Israel and Judah from exile,” declares Adonai. “I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.”

Dread of Jacob’s Trouble

⁴ Now these are the words that Adonai spoke to Israel and to Judah. ⁵ For thus says Adonai:

A Davidic King Brings Healing

Saving the Remnant

Grief Turned to Joy

²² Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Yet again will they use this expression in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I will return them from exile:

²³ Judah and all its cities will dwell there together—the farmer and those who go about with flocks. ²⁴ For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul will refresh.”

²⁵ At this point I awoke, and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.

²⁶ “Behold, days are coming”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. ²⁷ Now just as I have watched over them to uproot and to pull down, to overthrow, to destroy, and to bring disaster, then I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says Adonai. ²⁸ “In those days they will no longer say:

New Covenant Foretold

³⁷ “Behold, days are coming”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“when the city will be rebuilt for Adonai, from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁸ The measuring line will go out farther, straight to the Gareb Hill, then turn to Goah. ³⁹ Then the whole valley—the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields up to the Kidron Valley to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east—will be holy to Adonai. It will never be uprooted or thrown down again—forever.”

Why Jeremiah Bought Property

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from Adonai, in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² Now at the time the king of Babylon’s army 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 King Zedekiah of Judah had shut him up, saying: “Why do you prophesy and say, thus says Adonai: ‘I will soon give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it; ⁴ and King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him mouth to mouth and his eyes will behold his eyes; ⁵ and he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there will he remain until I take note of him,’ says Adonai—though you fight with the Chaldeans, you will not succeed?”

⁶ So Jeremiah said: “The word of Adonai came to me, saying: ⁷ ‘Hanamel, son of Shallum your uncle, will soon come to you saying: ‘Buy for yourself my field in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.’” ⁸ So my uncle’s son Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard as was the word of Adonai, and said to me: “Buy my field, please, which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of Adonai. ⁹ So I bought the field that was in Anathoth from the son of my uncle Hanamel, and weighed him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. ¹¹ Then I took the purchase deed, both the sealed copy, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy, ¹² and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my uncle’s son Hanamel and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the purchase deed, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the guard. ¹³ Then I charged Baruch before them, saying, ¹⁴ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds—this purchase deed, both the sealed copy and the open copy—and put them in a clay jar, so they may last many days.” ¹⁵ For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.”

¹⁶ After I had given the purchase deed to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to Adonai, saying: ¹⁷ “Ah, my Lord Adonai! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm—nothing is too hard for You! ^{[r] 18} You are the One doing mercy to thousands, but repaying the iniquity of the fathers into the lap of their children after them. Great, mighty God, Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name! ¹⁹ Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ^{[s] 20} You set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day in Israel and among mankind, and made Yourself a Name, as to this day. 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 with great terror. ²² You gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They came in and possessed it. But they did not obey your voice nor walk in your Torah. They have done nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you caused all this evil to fall on them. ²⁴ Look, the siege ramps have just come up to the city to take it. The city has been handed over to the Chaldeans fighting against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence. What You have spoken has happened. Here it is, You see it. ²⁵ Yet You said to me, my Lord Adonai: ‘Buy for yourself the field for money and call in witnesses’—even as the city is handed over to the Chaldeans.”

²⁶ Then came the word of Adonai to Jeremiah, saying: ²⁷ “Behold, I am Adonai, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?” ²⁸ Therefore thus says Adonai: “I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. ²⁹ Then the Chaldeans fighting against this city will come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses—where they burned incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, to provoke Me. ³⁰ For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in My sight from their youth; indeed, the children of Israel have done nothing but provoke Me with the work of their hands,” declares Adonai.

³¹ “Indeed this city has caused My anger and of My fury from the day that they built it up to this day,^[t] so that I will remove it from before My face, ³² because of all the evil the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done to provoke Me—they, their kings, their princes, their kohanim, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³ “They have turned their back to Me and not their face. Though I taught them early and often, they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴ Instead they set up their abominations in the House where My Name is called, to defile it. ³⁵ They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, to make their sons and their daughters pass through fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor did it enter My mind that they would do this loathsome thing, causing Judah to sin.”

³⁶ Now therefore thus says Adonai, the God of Israel, concerning this city, about which you say, “It is handed over to the king of Babylon by the sword, famine, and pestilence.

³⁷ “See, I will gather them out of all the countries, where I have driven them in My anger, My fury, and great wrath, and I will bring them back to this place and cause them to dwell securely. ³⁸ They will be My people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them one heart^[u] and one way, so they may fear Me forever; for their good and for their children after them.

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good for them. I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from Me.

⁴¹ “Yes, I will delight in doing good for them, and with all My heart and all My soul I will in truth plant them in this land.”

⁴² For thus says Adonai: “Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³ So fields will be bought in this land, about which you are saying: ‘It will be a desolation, without man or beast; it is handed over to the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴ Men will buy fields for money and sign and seal the deeds and call witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in the areas around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, in the towns of the hill-country, in the towns of the foothills, and in the cities of the South—because I will bring them back from exile.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

The Secret of Redemption

33 Then the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still confined in the guard’s courtyard, saying:

⁴ For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are torn down against the siege ramps and against the sword, ⁵ they are coming to fight with the Chaldeans, but they are about to fill them with the dead bodies of the people whom I will slay in My anger and in My fury. I have hidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness.

⁶ “Indeed, I will bring it health and healing, and I will surely heal them. I will reveal to them an abundance of shalom and truth. ⁷ I will restore Judah from exile and Israel from exile, and will rebuild them, as in former times. ⁸ I will also cleanse them from all their iniquity^[w] in which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their wrongs in which they have sinned against Me and in which they have rebelled against Me.

⁹ “Then this city will be to Me for a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do for them, so they will fear and tremble because of all the good and for all the shalom that I do for it.”

Voice of the Bridegroom

¹⁰ Thus says Adonai: “Yet again in this place—which you are saying is a waste without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the desolate, without man, without inhabitant and without beast—there will be heard ¹¹ the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them who say:

as they bring offerings of thanksgiving into the House of Adonai. For I will restore the land from the exile as it was at first,” declares Adonai.

¹² Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Yet again will there be in this place, which is waste, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, a pasture of shepherds making their flocks lie down. ¹³ In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the foothills, in the towns of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, will the flocks again pass under the hands of one who counts them,” declares Adonai.

Righteous Branch of David

¹⁷ For thus says Adonai: “For David, there will not be cut off a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸ nor will the Levitical kohanim ever lack a man before Me to offer burnt offering, to burn grain offerings and to make sacrifices continually.”

¹⁹ And the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ thus says Adonai: “If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night would not be at in their appointed time, ²¹ only then may My covenant be broken with My servant David, that he would not have a son to reign on his throne, and the Levitical kohanim would not be My ministers. ²² As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David My servant, and the Levites who minister to Me.”

²³ The word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, saying: ²⁴ “Have you not noticed what this people have spoken, saying: ‘The two families which Adonai did choose, He has rejected them’? Thus they despise My people—no longer a nation before them.” ²⁵ Thus says Adonai: “If I have not made My covenant of day and night firm, and the fixed patterns ordering the heavens and earth, ²⁶ only then would I reject the offspring of Jacob,^[x] and of My servant David so that I would not take from his offspring rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from their exile, and have compassion on them.”

Warning to Zedekiah

34 The word which came to Jeremiah from Adonai, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion and all the peoples were warring against Jerusalem and its towns, saying, ² thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Go, speak to King Zedekiah of Judah and tell him, thus says Adonai: ‘I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire, ³ and you will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes will behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon.”

⁴ Yet hear the word of Adonai, O Zedekiah king of Judah, thus says Adonai concerning you: “You will not die by the sword; ⁵ you will die in peace. As there were burning ceremonies for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you, and they will lament for you: ‘Oy, lord!’ For it is a word I have spoken,” declares Adonai.

Covenant Breaking With Slaves

⁶ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was warring against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left—against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities. ⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from Adonai, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, ⁹ so that everyone should let his manservant and his maidservant—Hebrew man or Hebrew woman—go free, so that no one should make a slave of a Jew, his brother. ¹⁰ So all the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone would free his manservant and his maidservant and not make them slaves any more—they obeyed, and freed them. ¹¹ But afterward they turned around and made the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, return, and brought them back into subjection as servants and as handmaids.”

¹² So the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying, ¹³ thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: ¹⁴ ‘At the end of seven years you are to set free every man his brother that is a Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you are let him go free from you.’ But your fathers did not obey Me, nor inclined their ear. ¹⁵ Now you had repented, and had done that which is right in My eyes, by proclaiming liberty everyone to his neighbor. You even had made a covenant before Me in the House where My Name is called. ¹⁶ But you turned around and profaned My Name, and made everyone his servant and his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their will, return, and you brought them back into subjection, to be your servants and handmaids.”

¹⁷ Therefore thus says Adonai: “You have not obeyed Me, to proclaim liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim for you a liberty,” declares Adonai, “to the sword, to plague and to famine! So I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts ¹⁹ —the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the officers, the kohanim, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them who seek their life, and their dead bodies will be for food to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth. ²¹ King Zedekiah of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, who were withdrawing from you. ²² Indeed, I will command,” declares Adonai, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a wasteland, with no one living.”