Jeremiah 23:9-32:11

English Standard Version

Lying Prophets

⁹Concerning the prophets:

^(A)My heart is broken within me;
    ^(B)all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
    like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
    and because of his holy words.
¹⁰^(C)For the land is full of adulterers;
    ^(D)because of the curse ^(E)the land mourns,
    and ^(F)the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
^(G)Their course is evil,
    and their might is not right.
¹¹^(H)“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
    even ^(I)in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
¹²^(J)Therefore their way shall be to them
    like slippery paths ^(K)in the darkness,
    into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
    ^(L)in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
¹³In the prophets of ^(M)Samaria
    ^(N)I saw an unsavory thing:
^(O)they prophesied by Baal
    ^(P)and led my people Israel astray.
¹⁴But in the prophets of Jerusalem
    I have seen a horrible thing:
^(Q)they commit adultery and walk in lies;
    ^(R)they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
    so that no one turns from his evil;
^(S)all of them have become like Sodom to me,
    ^(T)and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^(U)“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
    ^(V)and give them ^(W)poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
    ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^(X)filling you with vain hopes. ^(Y)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^(Z)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(AA)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(AB)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

¹⁸For ^(AC)who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
    to see and to hear his word,
    or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
¹⁹^(AD)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
^(AE)a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰^(AF)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and ^(AG)accomplished
    the intents of his heart.
^(AH)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹^(AI)“I did not send the prophets,
    yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
    yet they prophesied.
²²^(AJ)But if they had stood in my council,
    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^(AK)and they would have turned them from their evil way,
    and ^(AL)from the evil of their deeds.

²³^(AM)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴^(AN)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(AO)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said ^(AP)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(AQ)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(AR)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who think to make my people forget my name ^(AS)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(AT)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸^(AU)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(AV)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(AW)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ²⁹^(AX)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(AY)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰^(AZ)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^(BA)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^(BB)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

³³^(BC)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,^[a] and ^(BD)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ ³⁴And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^(BE)I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and ^(BF)you pervert the words of ^(BG)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” ³⁹therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up^[b] and ^(BH)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. ⁴⁰^(BI)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^(BJ)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

24 ^(BK)After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem ^(BL)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with ^(BM)the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, ^(BN)two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. ²One basket had very good figs, ^(BO)like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^(BP)very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. ³And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁵“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ^(BQ)whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶^(BR)I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ^(BS)I will build them up, and not tear them down; ^(BT)I will plant them, and not pluck them up. ⁷^(BU)I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, ^(BV)and they shall be my people ^(BW)and I will be their God, ^(BX)for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

⁸“But thus says the Lord: Like ^(BY)the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^(BZ)Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^(CA)dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹I will make them ^(CB)a horror^[c] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^(CC)a reproach, ^(CD)a byword, ^(CE)a taunt, and ^(CF)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰And I will send ^(CG)sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Seventy Years of Captivity

25 ^(CH)The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ³“For twenty-three years, ^(CI)from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken ^(CJ)persistently to you, ^(CK)but you have not listened. ⁴^(CL)You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^(CM)persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, ⁵saying, ^(CN)‘Turn now, every one of you, ^(CO)from his evil way and evil deeds, and ^(CP)dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. ⁶^(CQ)Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, ^(CR)or provoke me to anger ^(CS)with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ ⁷^(CT)Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, ^(CU)that you might provoke me to anger ^(CV)with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹^(CW)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(CX)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^(CY)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰Moreover, ^(CZ)I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(DA)the grinding of the millstones and ^(DB)the light of the lamp. ¹¹^(DC)This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^(DD)these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^(DE)seventy years. ¹²Then after ^(DF)seventy years are completed, ^(DG)I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^(DH)the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^(DI)making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^(DJ)in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴^(DK)For many nations ^(DL)and great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^(DM)and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord's Wrath

¹⁵Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^(DN)“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^(DO)the sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, ^(DP)and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: ¹⁸^(DQ)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, ^(DR)to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; ¹⁹^(DS)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, ²⁰and ^(DT)all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of ^(DU)the land of Uz and all the kings of ^(DV)the land of the Philistines (^(DW)Ashkelon, ^(DX)Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ^(DY)Ashdod); ²¹^(DZ)Edom, ^(EA)Moab, and the sons of ^(EB)Ammon; ²²all the kings of ^(EC)Tyre, all the kings of ^(ED)Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across ^(EE)the sea; ²³^(EF)Dedan, ^(EG)Tema, ^(EH)Buz, and all who cut ^(EI)the corners of their hair; ²⁴all the ^(EJ)kings of Arabia and all the kings of ^(EK)the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; ²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(EL)Elam, and all the kings of ^(EM)Media; ²⁶all the kings of ^(EN)the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of ^(EO)Babylon^[d] shall drink.

²⁷“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(EP)Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ^(EQ)the sword that I am sending among you.’

²⁸“And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(ER)You must drink! ²⁹For behold, ^(ES)I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^(ET)for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰“You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

^(EU)“‘The Lord will roar from on high,
    and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
    ^(EV)and shout, like those who tread grapes,
    against all the inhabitants of the earth.
³¹The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
    for ^(EW)the Lord has an indictment against the nations;
^(EX)he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
    and the wicked he will put to the sword,
declares the Lord.’

³²“Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Behold, disaster is going forth
from nation to nation,
^(EY)and a great tempest is stirring
^(EZ)from the farthest parts of the earth!

³³^(FA)“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. ^(FB)They shall not be lamented, ^(FC)or gathered, or buried; ^(FD)they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

³⁴^(FE)“Wail, ^(FF)you shepherds, and cry out,
    ^(FG)and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,
    and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
³⁵No refuge will remain ^(FH)for the shepherds,
    nor escape for the lords of the flock.
³⁶A voice—the cry ^(FI)of the shepherds,
    ^(FJ)and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For the Lord is laying waste their pasture,
³⁷    ^(FK)and the peaceful folds are devastated
    ^(FL)because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
³⁸Like a lion ^(FM)he has left his lair,
    for their land has become a waste
because of ^(FN)the sword of the oppressor,
    ^(FO)and because of his fierce anger.”

Jeremiah Threatened with Death

26 ^(FP)In the beginning of the reign of ^(FQ)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: ²“Thus says the Lord: ^(FR)Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord ^(FS)all the words that I command you to speak to them; ^(FT)do not hold back a word. ³^(FU)It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, ^(FV)that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them ^(FW)because of their evil deeds. ⁴You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(FX)If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, ⁵^(FY)and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you ^(FZ)urgently, ^(GA)though you have not listened, ⁶then I will make this house ^(GB)like Shiloh, and I will make this city ^(GC)a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

⁷^(GD)The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then ^(GE)the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! ⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be ^(GF)like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, ^(GG)without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰When ^(GH)the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the ^(GI)entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. ¹¹Then ^(GJ)the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, ^(GK)“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. ¹³Now therefore ^(GL)mend your ways and your deeds, ^(GM)and obey the voice of the Lord your God, ^(GN)and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. ¹⁴^(GO)But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. ¹⁵Only know for certain that if you put me to death, ^(GP)you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Jeremiah Spared from Death

¹⁶^(GQ)Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, ^(GR)“This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” ¹⁷^(GS)And certain of ^(GT)the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, ¹⁸“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,

^(GU)“‘Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? ^(GV)Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, ^(GW)and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? ^(GX)But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”

²⁰There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from ^(GY)Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. ²¹And when ^(GZ)King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. ²²Then ^(HA)King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, ^(HB)Elnathan the son of ^(HC)Achbor and others with him, ²³and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, ^(HD)who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴But the hand of ^(HE)Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.

The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar

27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah^[e] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ²Thus the Lord said to me: ^(HF)“Make yourself straps and ^(HG)yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³Send word^[f] to the king of ^(HH)Edom, the king of ^(HI)Moab, the king of the sons of ^(HJ)Ammon, the king of ^(HK)Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵“It is I who ^(HL)by my great power and my outstretched arm ^(HM)have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, ^(HN)and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. ⁶^(HO)Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ^(HP)my servant, ^(HQ)and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. ⁷^(HR)All the nations shall serve him and ^(HS)his son and ^(HT)his grandson, ^(HU)until the time of his own land comes. ^(HV)Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

⁸“‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(HW)and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation ^(HX)with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. ⁹So ^(HY)do not listen to your ^(HZ)prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your ^(IA)fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ ¹⁰^(IB)For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ¹¹^(IC)But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.”’”

¹²To ^(ID)Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: ^(IE)“Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and ^(IF)serve him and his people and live. ¹³^(IG)Why will you and your people die ^(IH)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(II)as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴^(IJ)Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ ^(IK)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ¹⁵I have not sent them, declares the Lord, but ^(IL)they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ^(IM)Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ^(IN)‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ ^(IO)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ¹⁷^(IP)Do not listen to them; ^(IQ)serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city ^(IR)become a desolation? ¹⁸If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then ^(IS)let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, ^(IT)that the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ¹⁹^(IU)For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, ^(IV)when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(IW)concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ²²^(IX)They shall be carried to Babylon ^(IY)and remain there ^(IZ)until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord. ^(JA)Then I will bring them back ^(JB)and restore them to this place.”

Hananiah the False Prophet

28 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of ^(JC)Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of ^(JD)Azzur, the prophet from ^(JE)Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(JF)I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³^(JG)Within ^(JH)two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴I will also bring back to this place ^(JI)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, ^(JJ)for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, ⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^(JK)“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. ⁷Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ⁸^(JL)The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹^(JM)As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

¹⁰Then the prophet Hananiah took the ^(JN)yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. ¹¹And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ^(JO)“Thus says the Lord: ^(JP)Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of ^(JQ)all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹²Sometime after the prophet ^(JR)Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³“Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. ¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations ^(JS)an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(JT)and they shall serve him, ^(JU)for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” ¹⁵And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, ^(JV)the Lord has not sent you, ^(JW)and you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, ^(JX)because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁷In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles

29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to ^(JY)the surviving elders of the exiles, and to ^(JZ)the priests, ^(KA)the prophets, and ^(KB)all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²This was after ^(KC)King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. ³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of ^(KD)Shaphan and Gemariah the son of ^(KE)Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: ⁴“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵^(KF)Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^(KG)pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(KH)Do not let your prophets and ^(KI)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^[g] ⁹for ^(KJ)it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^(KK)I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰“For thus says the Lord: ^(KL)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(KM)I will visit you, ^(KN)and I will fulfill to you my promise ^(KO)and bring you back to this place. ¹¹^(KP)For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[h] and not for evil, ^(KQ)to give you a future and a hope. ¹²^(KR)Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^(KS)and I will hear you. ¹³^(KT)You will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^(KU)with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you, declares the Lord, ^(KV)and I will restore your fortunes and ^(KW)gather you from all the nations and all the places ^(KX)where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

¹⁵“Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ ¹⁶thus says the Lord concerning ^(KY)the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: ¹⁷‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them ^(KZ)sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^(LA)vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸I will pursue them with ^(LB)sword, famine, and pestilence, ^(LC)and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ^(LD)to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^(LE)where I have driven them, ¹⁹because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ^(LF)that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ ²⁰Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles ^(LG)whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ²¹‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, ^(LH)who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. ²²^(LI)Because of them ^(LJ)this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, ^(LK)whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” ²³because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, ^(LL)they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and ^(LM)they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. ^(LN)I am the one who knows, ^(LO)and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”

Shemaiah's False Prophecy

²⁴To ^(LP)Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: ²⁵“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to ^(LQ)Zephaniah the son of ^(LR)Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have ^(LS)charge in the house of the Lord ^(LT)over every madman who prophesies, to put him in ^(LU)the stocks and neck irons. ²⁷Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah ^(LV)of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? ²⁸For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; ^(LW)build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”

²⁹^(LX)Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰^(LY)Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ³¹“Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning ^(LZ)Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because ^(MA)Shemaiah had prophesied to you ^(MB)when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, ³²therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish ^(MC)Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, ^(MD)and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, ^(ME)for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”

Restoration for Israel and Judah

30 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(MF)Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. ³^(MG)For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, ^(MH)when I will restore ^(MI)the fortunes of my people, ^(MJ)Israel and Judah, says the Lord, ^(MK)and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

⁴These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning ^(ML)Israel and Judah:

⁵“Thus says the Lord:
We have heard a cry of panic,
    of terror, and no peace.
⁶Ask now, and see,
    can a man bear a child?
^(MM)Why then do I see every man
    with his hands on his stomach ^(MN)like a woman in labor?
    ^(MO)Why has every face turned pale?
⁷Alas! ^(MP)That day is so great
    ^(MQ)there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
    yet he shall be saved out of it.

⁸“And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will ^(MR)break his ^(MS)yoke from off your neck, and I will ^(MT)burst your bonds, ^(MU)and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him.^[i] ⁹But they shall serve the Lord their God and ^(MV)David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁰^(MW)“Then fear not, ^(MX)O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord,
    nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for behold, ^(MY)I will save you from far away,
    ^(MZ)and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
^(NA)Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and none shall make him afraid.
¹¹^(NB)For I am with you to save you,
declares the Lord;
^(NC)I will make a full end of all the nations
    among whom I scattered you,
    but of you I will not make a full end.
^(ND)I will ^(NE)discipline you in just measure,
    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

¹²“For thus says the Lord:
^(NF)Your hurt is incurable,
    ^(NG)and your wound is grievous.
¹³There is none to uphold your cause,
    no medicine for your wound,
    ^(NH)no healing for you.
¹⁴^(NI)All your lovers have forgotten you;
    they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of ^(NJ)an enemy,
    the punishment ^(NK)of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
    ^(NL)because your sins are flagrant.
¹⁵^(NM)Why do you cry out over your hurt?
    ^(NN)Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
    ^(NO)because your sins are flagrant,
    I have done these things to you.
¹⁶^(NP)Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
    and ^(NQ)all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
^(NR)those who plunder you shall be plundered,
    ^(NS)and all who prey on you I will make a prey.
¹⁷^(NT)For I will restore ^(NU)health to you,
    and ^(NV)your wounds I will heal,
declares the Lord,
because ^(NW)they have called you an outcast:
    ^(NX)‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’

¹⁸“Thus says the Lord:
Behold, ^(NY)I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt on ^(NZ)its mound,
    and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
¹⁹^(OA)Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
    and the voices of those who celebrate.
^(OB)I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
    I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.
²⁰^(OC)Their children shall be as they were of old,
    and their congregation shall be established before me,
    and I will punish all who oppress them.
²¹^(OD)Their prince shall be one of themselves;
    ^(OE)their ruler shall come out from their midst;
^(OF)I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
    ^(OG)for who would dare of himself to approach me?
declares the Lord.
²²^(OH)And you shall be my people,
    and I will be your God.”

²³^(OI)Behold ^(OJ)the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁴^(OK)The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and accomplished
    the intentions of his mind.
^(OL)In the latter days you will understand this.

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

31 ^(OM)“At that time, declares the Lord, ^(ON)I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

²Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
    found grace in the wilderness;
^(OO)when Israel sought for rest,
³    the Lord appeared to him^[j] from far away.
^(OP)I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    therefore ^(OQ)I have continued ^(OR)my faithfulness to you.
⁴^(OS)Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
    O virgin Israel!
^(OT)Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
    and shall go forth in ^(OU)the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵^(OV)Again you shall plant vineyards
    on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
    and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
    in ^(OW)the hill country of Ephraim:
^(OX)‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”

⁷For thus says the Lord:
^(OY)“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for ^(OZ)the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    ^(PA)‘O Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’
⁸Behold, I will bring them ^(PB)from the north country
    and ^(PC)gather them from ^(PD)the farthest parts of the earth,
among them ^(PE)the blind and the lame,
    the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
    a great company, they shall return here.
⁹^(PF)With weeping they shall come,
    ^(PG)and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them ^(PH)walk by brooks of water,
    ^(PI)in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for ^(PJ)I am a father to Israel,
    and Ephraim is ^(PK)my firstborn.

¹⁰“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will ^(PL)gather him,
    and will keep him ^(PM)as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
¹¹^(PN)For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
    and has redeemed him from ^(PO)hands too strong for him.
¹²They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    ^(PP)and they shall be radiant ^(PQ)over the goodness of the Lord,
^(PR)over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
^(PS)their life shall be like a watered garden,
    ^(PT)and they shall languish no more.
¹³^(PU)Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.
^(PV)I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
¹⁴^(PW)I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
    and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the Lord.”

¹⁵Thus says the Lord:
^(PX)“A voice is heard in ^(PY)Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping.
^(PZ)Rachel is weeping for her children;
    she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    ^(QA)because they are no more.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
    and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
    and ^(QB)they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷^(QC)There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.
¹⁸I have heard ^(QD)Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf;
^(QE)bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹For after ^(QF)I had turned away, I relented,
    and after I was instructed, ^(QG)I struck my thigh;
^(QH)I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
²⁰^(QI)Is Ephraim my dear son?
    ^(QJ)Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
    I do remember him still.
^(QK)Therefore my heart^[k] yearns for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord.

²¹^(QL)“Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself guideposts;
^(QM)consider well the highway,
    ^(QN)the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.
²²^(QO)How long will you waver,
    ^(QP)O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encircles a man.”

²³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, ^(QQ)when I restore their fortunes:

^(QR)“‘The Lord bless you, ^(QS)O habitation of righteousness,
^(QT)O holy hill!’

²⁴^(QU)And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and ^(QV)the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. ²⁵For I will ^(QW)satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

²⁶At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

²⁷^(QX)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(QY)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^(QZ)the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass that ^(RA)as I have watched over them ^(RB)to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^(RC)so I will watch over them ^(RD)to build and to plant, declares the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say:

^(RE)“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰^(RF)But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

³¹^(RG)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(RH)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(RI)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(RJ)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³^(RK)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(RL)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(RM)on their hearts. ^(RN)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(RO)for they shall all know me, ^(RP)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(RQ)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(RR)I will remember their sin no more.”

³⁵Thus says the Lord,
who ^(RS)gives the sun for light by day
    and ^(RT)the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    ^(RU)the Lord of hosts is his name:
³⁶^(RV)“If this fixed order departs
    from before me, declares the Lord,
then shall the offspring of Israel cease
    from being a nation before me forever.”

³⁷Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
^(RW)then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
for all that they have done,
declares the Lord.”

³⁸^(RX)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord ^(RY)from the Tower of Hananel to ^(RZ)the Corner Gate. ³⁹^(SA)And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. ⁴⁰^(SB)The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the ^(SC)brook Kidron, to the corner of ^(SD)the Horse Gate toward the east, ^(SE)shall be sacred to the Lord. ^(SF)It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(SG)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^(SH)which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^(SI)was shut up in ^(SJ)the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(SK)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; ⁴^(SL)Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(SM)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. ⁵And ^(SN)he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^(SO)Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^(SP)‘Buy my field that is at ^(SQ)Anathoth, ^(SR)for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^(SS)the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^(ST)Anathoth 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 ^(SU)Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^(SV)weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰^(SW)I signed the deed, ^(SX)sealed it, ^(SY)got witnesses, and ^(SZ)weighed the money on scales. ¹¹Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy.