Jeremiah 29-34

Christian Standard Bible

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

29 This is the text of the letter^(A) that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining exiled elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar^(B) had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² This was after King Jeconiah,^[a](C) the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had left Jerusalem. ³ He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah,^(D) whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The letter stated:

⁴ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ “Build houses and live in them.^(E) Plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶ Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease.^{(F) 7} Pursue the well-being^[b] of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf,^(G) for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

⁸ For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you^(H) and your diviners deceive you,^(I) and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, ⁹ for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.”^(J) This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁰ For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete,^(K) I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you”^(L)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.^{(M) 13} You will seek me^(N) and find me when you search for me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes^[c](O) and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.”^(P)

¹⁵ You have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon!” ¹⁶ But this is what the Lord says concerning the king sitting on David’s throne^(Q) and concerning all the people living in this city—that is, concerning your brothers who did not go with you into exile. ¹⁷ This is what the Lord of Armies says: “I am about to send sword, famine, and plague against them,^(R) and I will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse and a desolation, an object of scorn and a disgrace among all the nations^(S) where I have banished them.^{(T) 19} I will do this because they have not listened to my words”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the words that I sent to them with my servants the prophets time and time again.^[d](U) And you too have not listened.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

²⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.^{(V) 21} This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, the ones prophesying a lie to you in my name:^(W) “I am about to hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes. ²² Based on what happens to them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will create a curse^(X) that says, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’ ^{(Y) 23} because they have committed an outrage^(Z) in Israel by committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken in my name a lie, which I did not command them. I am he who knows, and I am a witness.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

²⁴ To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you are to say, ²⁵ “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You^[e] in your own name have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah^(AA) son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶ ‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be the chief officer^(AB) in the temple of the Lord, responsible for every madman^(AC) who acts like a prophet. You must confine him in the stocks^(AD) and an iron collar. ²⁷ So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who has been acting like a prophet among you?^{(AE) 28} For he has sent word to us in Babylon, claiming, “The exile will be long. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce.”’” ^(AF)

²⁹ The priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah.

A Message about Shemaiah

³⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ³¹ “Send a message to all the exiles, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and made you trust a lie,^{(AG) 32} this is what the Lord says: I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. There will not be even one of his descendants living among these people,^(AH) nor will any ever see the good that I will bring to my people—this is the Lord’s declaration—for he has preached rebellion against the Lord.’”^(AI)

Restoration from Captivity

30 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ² “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Write on a scroll all the words that I have spoken to you,^{(AJ) 3} for look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will restore the fortunes^[f] of my people Israel and Judah,”^(AK) says the Lord. “I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it.”

⁴ These are the words the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah. ⁵ This is what the Lord says:

Healing Zion’s Wounds

¹² For this is what the Lord says:

Restoration of the Land

¹⁸ This is what the Lord says:

The Wrath of God

God’s Relationship with His People

31 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will be the God of all the families of Israel,^(BN) and they will be my people.”

² This is what the Lord says:

God’s People Brought Home

⁷ For this is what the Lord says:

Lament Turned to Joy

¹⁵ This is what the Lord says:

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says:

Repentance and Restoration

²³ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes,^[o] they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: ‘May the Lord bless you, righteous settlement,^(CY) holy mountain.’^{(CZ) 24} Judah and all its cities will live in it together—also farmers and those who move^[p] with the flocks— ²⁵ for I satisfy the thirsty person and feed all those who are weak.”^(DA)

²⁶ At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.

²⁷ “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will sow the house of Israel^(DB) and the house of Judah with the seed of people and the seed of animals. ²⁸ Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster,^(DC) so will I watch over them to build and to plant them”^(DD)—this is the Lord’s declaration. ²⁹ “In those days, it will never again be said,

³⁰ Rather, each will die for his own iniquity.^(DF) Anyone who eats sour grapes—his own teeth will be set on edge.

The New Covenant

³¹ “Look, the days are coming”^(DG)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant^(DH) with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ³² This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”^[q](DI)—the Lord’s declaration. ³³ “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’^(DJ) for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”^(DK)—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity^(DL) and never again remember their sin.

³⁵ “This is what the Lord says:

³⁷ “This is what the Lord says:

³⁸ “Look, the days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when the city^[r] from the Tower of Hananel^(DO) to the Corner Gate^(DP) will be rebuilt for the Lord. ³⁹ A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb^(DQ) and then turn toward Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley—the corpses, the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley^(DR) to the corner of the Horse Gate^(DS) to the east—will be holy to the Lord. It will never be uprooted or demolished again.”

Jeremiah’s Land Purchase

32 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah^(DT) of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.^{(DU) 2} At that time, the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem,^(DV) and the prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned in the guard’s courtyard^(DW) in the palace of the king of Judah. ³ King Zedekiah of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why are you prophesying as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am about to hand this city over to Babylon’s king, and he will capture it. ⁴ King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Chaldeans; indeed, he will certainly be handed over to Babylon’s king. They will speak face to face^[s] and meet eye to eye.^{(DX) 5} He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will stay until I attend to him—this is the Lord’s declaration. For you will fight the Chaldeans, but you will not succeed.’”^(DY)

⁶ Jeremiah replied, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy my field in Anathoth^(DZ) for yourself, for you own the right of redemption^(EA) to buy it.’

⁸ “Then, as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to the guard’s courtyard and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out the silver to him^(EB)—seventeen shekels^[t] of silver. ¹⁰ I recorded it on a scroll,^(EC) sealed it, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹ I took the purchase agreement—the sealed copy with its terms and conditions and the open copy— ¹² and gave the purchase agreement to Baruch^(ED) son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. I did this in the sight of my cousin^[u] Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the purchase agreement, and all the Judeans sitting in the guard’s courtyard.

¹³ “I charged Baruch in their sight, ¹⁴ ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Take these scrolls—this purchase agreement with the sealed copy and this open copy—and put them in an earthen storage jar so they will last a long time. ¹⁵ For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’^(EE)

¹⁶ “After I had given the purchase agreement to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:^{(EF) 17} Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth^(EG) by your great power^(EH) and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!^{(EI) 18} You show faithful love to thousands but lay the fathers’ iniquity on their sons’ laps after them,^(EJ) great and mighty God^(EK) whose name is the Lord of Armies, ¹⁹ the one great in counsel and powerful in action. Your eyes are on all the ways of the children of men^[v] in order to reward each person according to his ways and as the result of his actions.^{(EL) 20} You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt^(EM) and still do today, both in Israel and among all mankind. You made a name^(EN) for yourself, as is the case today. ²¹ You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.^{(EO) 22} You gave them this land you swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(EP) 23} They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey you or live according to your instructions.^(EQ) They failed to perform all you commanded them to do,^(ER) and so you have brought all this disaster on them. ²⁴ Look! Siege ramps^(ES) have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you have spoken has happened. Look, you can see it! ²⁵ Yet you, Lord God, have said to me, ‘Purchase the field and call in witnesses’—even though the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans!”

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ “Look, I am the Lord, the God over every creature.^(ET) Is anything too difficult for me?^{(EU) 28} Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to hand this city over to the Chaldeans,^(EV) to Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar, and he will capture it. ²⁹ The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come and set this city on fire. They will burn it, including the houses where incense has been burned to Baal on their rooftops and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to anger me.^{(EW) 30} From their youth, the Israelites and Judeans have done nothing but what is evil in my sight! They have done nothing but anger me by the work of their hands”^(EX)—this is the Lord’s declaration— ³¹ “for this city has caused my wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. I will therefore remove it from my presence^{(EY) 32} because of all the evil the Israelites and Judeans have done to anger me—they, their kings,^(EZ) their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. ³³ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces.^(FA) Though I taught them time and time again,^[w](FB) they do not listen and receive discipline. ³⁴ They have placed their abhorrent things^(FC) in the house that bears my name and have defiled it. ³⁵ They have built the high places of Baal in Ben Hinnom Valley to sacrifice their sons and daughters in the fire^[x] to Molech^(FD)—something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought^[y] that they do this detestable act causing Judah to sin!

³⁶ “Now therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to this city about which you said, ‘It has been handed over to Babylon’s king through sword, famine, and plague’: ³⁷ I will certainly gather them from all the lands where I have banished them in my anger, fury, and intense wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them live in safety.^{(FE) 38} They will be my people, and I will be their God.^{(FF) 39} I will give them integrity of heart^(FG) and action^[z] so that they will fear me always, for their good and for the good of their descendants after them.

⁴⁰ “I will make a permanent covenant with them:^(FH) I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear of me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from me.^{(FI) 41} I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all my heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land.^(FJ)

⁴² “For this is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all this terrible disaster on these people,^(FK) so am I about to bring on them all the good I am promising them. ⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying,^(FL) ‘It’s a desolation^(FM) without people or animals; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans!’ ⁴⁴ Fields will be purchased, the transaction written on a scroll and sealed,^(FN) and witnesses will be called on in the land of Benjamin,^(FO) in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in Judah’s cities—the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, and the cities of the Negev—because I will restore their fortunes.”^[aa]

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Israel’s Restoration

33 While he was still confined in the guard’s courtyard,^(FP) the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time: ² “The Lord who made the earth,^[ab] the Lord who forms it to establish it,^(FQ) the Lord is his name,^(FR) says this: ³ Call to me and I will answer you^(FS) and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.^{(FT) 4} For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah’s kings, the ones torn down for defense against the assault ramps and the sword:^{(FU) 5} The people coming to fight the Chaldeans will fill the houses with the corpses of their own men that I strike down in my wrath and fury. I have hidden my face^(FV) from this city because of all their evil. ⁶ Yet I will certainly bring health^(FW) and healing to it and will indeed heal them. I will let them experience the abundance^[ac] of true peace.^{(FX) 7} I will restore the fortunes^[ad] of Judah and of Israel and will rebuild them as in former times.^{(FY) 8} I will purify them from all the iniquity they have committed against me,^(FZ) and I will forgive all the iniquities they have committed against me, rebelling against me. ⁹ This city will bear on my behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory^(GA) before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the prosperity I will give them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace^(GB) I will bring about for them.

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord says: In this place, which you say is a ruin,^(GC) without people or animals—that is, in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets that are a desolation without people, without inhabitants, and without animals—there will be heard again ¹¹ a sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride,^(GD) and the voice of those saying,

as they bring thanksgiving sacrifices to the temple of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as in former times, says the Lord.

¹² “This is what the Lord of Armies says: In this desolate place—without people or animals—and in all its cities there will once more be a grazing land where shepherds may rest flocks.^{(GE) 13} The flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them^(GF) in the cities of the hill country,^(GG) the cities of the Judean foothills, the cities of the Negev, the land of Benjamin—the areas around Jerusalem and in Judah’s cities, says the Lord.

God’s Covenant with David

¹⁷ “For this is what the Lord says: David will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel.^{(GK) 18} The Levitical priests will never fail to have a man always before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices.”^(GL)

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ “This is what the Lord says: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that day and night cease to come at their regular time,^{(GM) 21} then also my covenant with my servant David^(GN) may be broken. If that could happen, then he would not have a son reigning on his throne and the Levitical priests would not be my ministers.^{(GO) 22} Even as the stars of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured,^(GP) so too I will make innumerable the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me.”

²³ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ “Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say, ‘The Lord has rejected the two families he had chosen.’^(GQ) My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them. ²⁵ This is what the Lord says: If I do not keep my covenant with the day and with the night, and if I fail to establish the fixed order of heaven and earth,^{(GR) 26} then I might also reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David. That is, I would not take rulers from his descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But in fact, I will restore their fortunes^[af] and have compassion on them.”^(GS)

Jeremiah’s Word to King Zedekiah

34 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,^(GT) his whole army, all the kingdoms of the lands under his control,^(GU) and all other peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities: ² “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go, speak to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon,^(GV) and he will burn it. ³ As for you, you will not escape^(GW) from him but are certain to be captured and handed over to him. You will meet the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak face to face;^[ag](GX) you will go to Babylon.

⁴ “‘Yet hear the Lord’s word, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword; ⁵ you will die peacefully. There will be a burning ceremony for you just like the burning ceremonies for your ancestors, the kings of old who came before you.^(GY) “Oh, master!” will be the lament for you, for I have spoken this word. This is the Lord’s declaration.’”

⁶ So the prophet Jeremiah related all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem ⁷ while the king of Babylon’s army was attacking Jerusalem and all of Judah’s remaining cities—that is, Lachish and Azekah,^(GZ) for they were the only ones left of Judah’s fortified cities.

The People and Their Slaves

⁸ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom^(HA) to them. ⁹ As a result, each was to let his male and female Hebrew slaves go free, and no one was to enslave his fellow Judean.^{(HB) 10} All the officials and people who entered into covenant to let their male and female slaves go free—in order not to enslave them any longer—obeyed and let them go free. ¹¹ Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had let go free and forced them to become slaves again.

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ¹³ “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant^(HC) with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying, ¹⁴ ‘At the end of seven years, each of you must let his fellow Hebrew who sold himself^[ah] to you go. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free from your service.’^(HD) But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention. ¹⁵ Today you repented and did what pleased me, each of you proclaiming freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before me^(HE) at the house that bears my name.^{(HF) 16} But you have changed your minds^(HG) and profaned my name.^(HH) Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been set free to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

¹⁷ “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom, each for his fellow Hebrew and for his neighbor.^(HI) I hereby proclaim freedom for you^(HJ)—this is the Lord’s declaration—to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all the earth’s kingdoms.^{(HK) 18} As for those who disobeyed my covenant,^(HL) not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.^{(HM) 19} The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf— ²⁰ all these I will hand over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.^{(HN) 21} I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their lives, to the king of Babylon’s army that is withdrawing. ²² I am about to give the command—this is the Lord’s declaration—and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it.^(HO) I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”^(HP)