1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of
Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
2 Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem; and
Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the
king of Judah’s house. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up,
saying, Why do you prophesy, and say, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give
this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the
Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall see his
eyes; 5 and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be
until I visit him, says Yahweh: though you fight with the Chaldeans,
you shall not prosper? 6 Jeremiah said, The word of Yahweh came to
me, saying, 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to
you, saying, Buy you my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of
redemption is yours to buy it. 8 So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in
the court of the guard according to the word of Yahweh, and said to me,
Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin;
for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it
for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh. 9 I bought the
field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and weighed him the
money, even seventeen shekels of silver. 10 I subscribed the deed, and
sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed,
containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open; 12 and I
delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of
Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of
the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews
who sat in the court of the guard. 13 I charged Baruch before them,
saying, 14 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds,
this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and
put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days. 15 For
thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards
shall yet again be bought in this land. 16 Now after I had delivered the
deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying,
17 Ah Lord Yahweh! behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your
great power and by your outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for you,
18 who show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of
the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the
mighty God, Yahweh of Hosts is his name; 19 great in counsel, and mighty
in work; whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give
everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
20 who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day,
both in Israel and among other men; and made you a name, as in this
day; 21 and brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with
signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched
arm, and with great terror; 22 and gave them this land, which you did
swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
23 and they came in, and possessed it, but they didn’t obey your voice,
neither walked in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded
them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come on them.
24 Behold, the mounds, they are come to the city to take it; and the city
is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the
sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what you have spoken has
happened; and, behold, you see it. 25 You have said to me, Lord Yahweh,
Buy you the field for money, and call witnesses; whereas the city is given
into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 Then came the word of Yahweh to
Jeremiah, saying, 27 Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh: is there
anything too hard for me? 28 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will
give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: 29 and the
Chaldeans, who fight against this city, shall come and set this city on fire,
and burn it, with the houses, on whose roofs they have offered incense to
Baal, and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only
that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel
have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh.
31 For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath
from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it
from before my face, 32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel
and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger,
they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the
men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 They have turned to me
the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and
teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34 But
they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to
defile it. 35 They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley
of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through
the fire to Molech; which I didn’t command them, neither did it come
into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36 Now therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this
city, whereof you say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon
by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: 37 Behold, I will
gather them out of all the countries, where I have driven them in my anger,
and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 and they shall be my
people, and I will be their God: 39 and I will give them one heart and one
way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their
children after them: 40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them,
that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will
put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me. 41 Yes, I
will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42 For thus says
Yahweh: Like as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so will I
bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 43 Fields shall be
bought in this land, whereof you say, It is desolate, without man or
animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44 Men shall buy
fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses,
in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities
of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the
lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to
return, says Yahweh.
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