Beginning

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was around Jerusalem. And Jeremiah the man of God was shut up in the open space of the prison, in the house of the king of Judah. ³ For King Zedekiah of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you speak these things in the Lord’s name? You have said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he will take it. ⁴ King Zedekiah of Judah will not get away from the Babylonians. For sure he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵ He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” says the Lord. “If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not win.”’”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Hanamel, the son of your father’s brother Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my field at Anathoth. For because of your place in the family you have the right to buy it.”’ ⁸ Then Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother, came to me in the open space of the prison, as the Word of the Lord had said. And he said to me, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. For you have the right to own it. Because of your place in the family you have the right, so buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the Word of the Lord. ⁹ So I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother. And I weighed out seventeen pieces of silver for him. ¹⁰ I wrote my name and put my mark on the agreement, and called in people to watch. And I weighed the silver. ¹¹ Then I took the agreement which showed that I had bought the field, both the agreement which was not to be opened, and the open one. ¹² And I gave the written agreement to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. This was seen by Hanamel, the son of my father’s brother, and by those who watched me write my name on the agreement, and by all the Jews who were sitting in the open space of the prison. ¹³ I said to Baruch in front of them, ¹⁴ ‘This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: “Take these agreements, both the closed and open one, and put them in a clay jar so they may last a long time.” ¹⁵ For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “Houses and fields and grape-fields will again be bought in this land.”’

Jeremiah’s Prayer

¹⁶ “After I had given the agreement showing I had bought the field to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying, ¹⁷ ‘O Lord God! See, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your long arm! Nothing is too hard for You! ¹⁸ You show loving-kindness to thousands, but put punishment for the sins of fathers on their children after them. O great and powerful God, the Lord of All is Your name. ¹⁹ You are great in wisdom and powerful in Your works. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men. You pay every one for what he does and for the fruit of what he does. ²⁰ You have made special things to see and have done wonders in the land of Egypt, and are still doing them even to this day both in Israel and among all men. You have made a name for Yourself as it is today. ²¹ You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with special things to see and with wonders, and with a strong hand and a long arm, and with much trouble. ²² And You gave them this land which You promised their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They came in and took it for their own. But they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your Law. They did not do anything that You told them to do. So You have made all this trouble come upon them. ²⁴ See, a battle-wall has been built up against the city to take it. And the city is given to the Babylonians who fight against it, because of the sword, hunger, and disease. What You have said would happen has now happened, as You see. ²⁵ O Lord God, You have said to me, “Buy the field with money, and call in people to see you buy it,” even though the city will be given over to the Babylonians.”’”

²⁶ Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷ “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me? ²⁸ So this is what the Lord says: ‘See, I am giving this city to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. ²⁹ The Babylonians who are fighting against this city will come into it and set this city on fire and burn it. And the houses will burn where people have given special perfume to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink gifts to other gods to make Me angry. ³⁰ For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only what is sinful in My eyes since they were young. The sons of Israel have been only making Me angry by the work of their hands,” says the Lord. ³¹ ‘This city has made Me very angry since the day they built it until now. So I will put it away from before My face ³² because of all the sin of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done to make Me angry. They have sinned together with their kings, their leaders, their religious leaders, their men who speak in My name, the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem. ³³ They have turned their back to Me, and not their face. I taught them again and again, but they would not listen and learn. ³⁴ They put their things that I hate in the house which is called by My name, and made it unclean. ³⁵ They built the high places of the false god Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to give their sons and daughters as burnt gifts to Molech. I did not tell them to do this hated thing that made Judah sin. It did not even come into My mind.

A Promise for the Future

³⁶ “So now this is what the Lord God of Israel says about this city of which you say, ‘It is given over to the king of Babylon because of the sword, hunger, and disease.’ ³⁷ I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My strong anger. And I will bring them back to this place to live where they will be safe. ³⁸ They will be My people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an agreement with them that I will not turn away from them. I will do good to them, an agreement that will last forever. And I will help them fear Me in their hearts so they will not turn away from Me. ⁴¹ I will have joy in doing good to them. And I will be faithful to plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. ⁴² For the Lord says, ‘Just as I brought all this trouble on these people, so I am going to bring all the good on them that I have promised them. ⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a waste, without man or animal. It is given over to the Babylonians.” ⁴⁴ Men will buy fields for money, write their names and put their marks on agreements while people watch them do this in the land of Benjamin and in the places around Jerusalem. Also they will do this in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the Negev. For I will bring them back to their own land,’ says the Lord.”

A Promise of Hope

33 While Jeremiah was still shut up in the open space of the prison, the Word of the Lord came to him a second time, saying, ² “This is what the Lord says Who made the earth. The Lord made it to last. The Lord is His name. ³ ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you. And I will show you great and wonderful things which you do not know.’ ⁴ For this is what the Lord God of Israel says about the houses of this city and about the houses of the kings of Judah which have been torn down to make a strong wall to help in the battle against the Babylonians. ⁵ Some will come to fight with the Babylonians, and they will fill the houses with the dead bodies of men whom I have killed in My anger. I will hide My face from this city because of all their sin. ⁶ See, I will make it well again, and I will heal them. I will let them have much peace and truth. ⁷ I will return the land to Judah and to Israel, and I will help them to become as they were before. ⁸ I will make them clean from all the sins they have done against Me. I will forgive all their sins against Me. ⁹ This city will make My name known. It will be to Me joy, praise and shining-greatness before all the nations of the earth that hear of all the good that I do for them. And they will fear and shake because of all the good and all the peace that I give it.’

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord says: ‘You say of this place, “It is a waste, without man or animal.” Yet in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are laid waste, with no man or animal living in them, there will again be heard ¹¹ the voice of joy and the voice of happiness. In this place will be heard the voice of the man to be married and the voice of the bride, and the voice of those who say, “Give thanks to the Lord of All, for the Lord is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever.” And here will be heard the voice of those who bring a gift of thanks into the house of the Lord. For I will bring them back to the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.

¹² “The Lord of All says, ‘This place is now a waste, without man or animal. Yet there will again be shepherds living in this place and in all its cities who can care for their sheep. ¹³ In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the valley, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the land around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says the Lord.

¹⁴ ‘See, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will do what I promised to the people of Israel and the people of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will cause a right and good Branch of David to rise up. And He will do what is fair and right and good on the earth. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will be safe. And this is the name it will be called: The Lord makes us right and good.’ ¹⁷ For the Lord says, ‘David will never be without a man to sit on the throne of the people of Israel. ¹⁸ And the Levite religious leaders will never be without a man before Me to give burnt gifts, to burn grain gifts, and to make gifts ready on the altar all the time.’”

¹⁹ The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break My agreement with the day and night, so that day and night will not come at their set time, ²¹ then My agreement may also be broken with David My servant, that he will not have a son to rule on his throne. And then My agreement may be broken with My servants, the Levite religious leaders. ²² The stars of heaven cannot be numbered, and the sand of the sea cannot be weighed. In the same way I will make the children of David My servant many, as well as the Levites who serve Me.’”

²³ The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴ “Have you not heard what these people are saying? They say, ‘The Lord has turned away from the two families He had chosen.’ So they hate My people. They are no longer a nation in their eyes. ²⁵ This is what the Lord says: ‘If I do not keep My agreement with day and night and the laws of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will turn away from the children of Jacob and David My servant. Then I will not choose one of his children to rule over the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will bring them back to their land and will have loving-pity on them.’”

God Speaks to Zedekiah

34 This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the nations of the earth that were under his rule, and all the people, were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities: ² “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘Go and say to Zedekiah king of Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘See, I am giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. ³ And you will not get away from him. You will be taken and given into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.’”’ ⁴ Yet hear the Word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! The Lord says this about you: ‘You will not die by the sword. ⁵ You will die in peace. And as spices were burned for your fathers, the kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you and cry in sorrow for you, “It is bad, lord!”’ I Myself have said this,” says the Lord.

⁶ Then Jeremiah the man of God told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and all the cities that were left of Judah. These cities were Lachish and Azekah. They were the only strong cities left in Judah that were ready for war.

Servants Were to Be Free

⁸ This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made an agreement to set free ⁹ their Hebrew male and female servants so that no one would have a Hebrew servant work for him. ¹⁰ And all the leaders and all the people obeyed, who had joined in the agreement that every man should set his male and female servants free. No one was to keep them working any longer for him. So they obeyed and set them free. ¹¹ But after this they turned around and took back the male and female servants whom they had set free. They brought them back and made them work for them again as male and female servants.

¹² Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I made an agreement with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house where they were made to work. I said to them, ¹⁴ “At the end of seven years each of you must set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to you and has served you for six years. You must send him away from you as a free man.” But your fathers did not obey Me, or listen to Me. ¹⁵ Not long ago you had turned and done what is right in My eyes. Each man told his neighbor that he was free. And you had made an agreement before Me in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Yet you turned and sinned against My name. Each man took back his male and female servant whom you had set free to go where they wished. And you brought them under your power again to be your male and female servants.’

¹⁷ “So the Lord says, ‘You have not obeyed Me. Each man has not set his brother or his neighbor free. So I am letting you free,’ says the Lord, ‘free to fall by the sword, by disease, and by hunger. I will cause you to be hated and feared by all the nations of the earth. ¹⁸ I will take the men who have sinned against My agreement, who have not kept the words of the agreement they made before Me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts. ¹⁹ I will take these leaders of Judah, and leaders of Jerusalem, the king’s servants, the religious leaders, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰ And I will give them over to those who hate them and to those who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth. ²¹ I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his captains over to those who hate them and to those who want to kill them. I will give them to the army of the king of Babylon which has left from you. ²² See,’ says the Lord, ‘I will tell them to come back to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a waste place where no people live.’”