Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah,^{(A) 3} where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, “Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;^{(B) 4} King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans but shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye,^{(C) 5} and he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I attend to him, says the Lord; though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?”^(D)

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ”^{(E) 8} Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “Buy my field that is at 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 Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out the silver to him, seventeen shekels of silver.^{(F) 10} I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the silver on scales.^{(G) 11} Then I took the sealed deed of purchase containing the terms and conditions and the open copy,^{(H) 12} and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin^[a] Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.^{(I) 13} In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, ¹⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”^(J)

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ “Ah Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.^{(K) 18} You show steadfast love to the thousandth generation^[b] but repay the guilt of parents into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of hosts,^{(L) 19} great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of mortals, rewarding all according to their ways and according to the fruit of their doings.^{(M) 20} You showed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day in Israel and among all humankind and have made yourself a name that continues to this very day.^{(N) 21} You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror,^{(O) 22} and you gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey,^{(P) 23} and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or follow your laws; of all you commanded them to do, they did nothing. Therefore you have made all these disasters come upon them.^{(Q) 24} See, the siege ramps have been cast up against the city to take it, and the city, faced with sword, famine, and pestilence, has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has happened, as you yourself can see.^{(R) 25} Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for silver and get witnesses,’ though the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ See, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?^{(S) 28} Therefore, thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall take it.^{(T) 29} The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come, set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and libations have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger.^{(U) 30} For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; the people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says the Lord.^{(V) 31} This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built until this day, so that I will remove it from my sight^{(W) 32} because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.^{(X) 33} They have turned their backs to me, not their faces; though I have taught them persistently, they would not listen and accept correction.^{(Y) 34} They set up their abominations in the house that bears my name and defiled it.^{(Z) 35} They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter my mind that they should do this abomination, causing Judah to sin.^(AA)

³⁶ Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, “It is being given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence”: ³⁷ See, I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them back to this place, and I will settle them in safety.^{(AB) 38} They shall be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for all time, for their own good and the good of their children after them.^{(AC) 40} I will make an everlasting covenant with them, never to draw back from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from me. ⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.^(AD)

⁴² For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good fortune that I now promise them.^{(AE) 43} Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, “It is a desolation, without humans or animals; it has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴ Fields shall be bought for silver, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, of the hill country, of the Shephelah, and of the Negeb, for I will restore their fortunes, says the Lord.^(AF)

Life in the Spirit

8 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{(A) 2} For the law of the Spirit^[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you^[b] free from the law of sin and of death.^{(B) 3} For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh,^{(C) 4} so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^{[d](D) 5} For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit^[e] set their minds on the things of the Spirit.^{[f](E) 6} To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit^[g] is life and peace.^{(F) 7} For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot,^{(G) 8} and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,^[h] since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.^{(H) 10} But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit^[i] is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[j] from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through^[k] his Spirit that dwells in you.^(I)

¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.^{(J) 14} For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.^{(K) 15} For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba!^[l] Father!”^{(L) 16} it is that very Spirit bearing witness^[m] with our spirit that we are children of God,^{(M) 17} and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.^(N)

Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.^{(O) 24} For in^[n] hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes^[o] with groanings too deep for words.^{(P) 27} And God,^[p] who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit^[q] intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.^(Q)

²⁸ We know that all things work together^[r] for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.^{(R) 29} For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.^{[s](S) 30} And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.^(T)

God’s Love in Christ Jesus

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?^{(U) 32} He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.^{(V) 34} Who is to condemn? It is Christ^[t] who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.^{(W) 35} Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us.^{(Y) 38} For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,^{(Z) 39} nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.