Jeremiah 32
32
1This is the Lord's message that came to Jeremiah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah's reign, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. 2This was when the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the guard's courtyard, part of the king of Judah's palace.
3Zedekiah king of Judah had put him in prison, telling him: “Why do you have to prophesy like this? You say the Lord is saying, ‘Look, I'm going to hand over this city to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 4Zedekiah king of Judah won't escape from the Babylonians. He will be captured and taken to the king of Babylon to speak with him personally and see him face to face. 5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he'll remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. You won't be successful if you fight against the Babylonians.’”
6Jeremiah answered, “The Lord gave me a message, saying: 7Your cousin Hanamel, son of Shallum, is coming to tell you, ‘Why don't you buy my field in Anathoth because you have the right to redeem it and buy it?’
8Just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel arrived to see me in the guard's courtyard and asked me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin because you have the right of family ownership to redeem it.#32:8. In order to keep land ownership in the family, relatives had the right of “first refusal” when another family member was forced to sell their land. See Leviticus 25:25-28. You should buy it for yourself.’” This convinced me that this was a message from the Lord.
9So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver to pay him. 10I signed the deed and sealed it, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver using the scales. 11Then I took the deed of sale, both the sealed original containing the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy, 12and handed them to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. I did this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of sale, and all the people of Judah who were sitting there in the guard's courtyard.
13I gave Baruch these instructions in front of them, 14“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Put these deeds of sale, the sealed original and the open copy, in a clay jar so they can be kept safe for a long time. 15For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: The time will come when once again houses, fields, and vineyards will be bought in this country.”
16After I had given the deed of sale to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord: 17“Ah, Lord God! You created the heavens and the earth by your great strength and power. Nothing is too hard for you! 18You give your trustworthy love to thousands, but the consequences of your punishment of the sins of the fathers affect their children too. Great and powerful is the God whose name is the Lord Almighty— 19you are the one who is supremely wise and who does incredible things. You watch what everyone does, and you reward them according to the way they live and what their actions deserve.
20You carried out signs and miracles in Egypt, and you still do so today, both here in Israel and among all people everywhere. As a result you gained a great reputation, and this is still true today. 21You led your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and miracles, with your great power and strength that terrified people. 22You gave them this land that you had promised to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
23They came and took it over, but they didn't do what you said or follow your laws. They didn't do everything you ordered them to do, which is why you've brought all this disaster down on them. 24Look at the siege ramps piled up against the city to capture it! Through war and famine and disease, the city will be taken by the Babylonians who are attacking it. You can see that everything you said would happen has happened.
25Yet, Lord God, you have told me, ‘Buy yourself the field with silver in front of witnesses, even though the city has been handed over to the Babylonians!’”
26Then the Lord gave Jeremiah this message: 27Look! I am the Lord, the God of everyone. Is anything too hard for me to do?
28So this is what the Lord says: Listen! I'm going to hand over this city to the king of Babylon and the Babylonians, and they will capture it. 29The Babylonians who are attacking the city are going to come and set fire to it. They will burn it down, including the houses belonging to the people who made me angry by burning incense to Baal on their rooftops, and by pouring out drink offerings in worship of other gods.
30From their earliest days all the people of Israel and of Judah have ever done has been evil in my sight. In fact all they've ever done is to make me angry through their actions, declares the Lord. 31This city has been such a source of anger and frustration from the time it was built right up till now. So I'm going to get rid of it, 32because of all the evil things the people of Israel and Judah did that made me angry—their kings, and officials, their priests and prophets, all of those living in Judah and Jerusalem, everyone. 33They have turned their backs on me. They wouldn't even look at me. Even though I kept on trying to teach them, they refused to listen or accept instruction.
34They have put their disgusting idols in my Temple, making it unclean. 35They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the Valley of Hinnom so they could sacrifice their sons and daughters by burning them in the fire. This is something I never commanded. I never even thought of such a thing—doing something so awful and making the people of Judah guilty of sin.
36Now about this city. You are correctly saying, “It's going be handed over to the king of Babylon through war and famine and disease.” However, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 37I promise to gather my people from all the lands where I exiled them because they made me so very angry. I will bring them back here and they will live in safety. 38They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39I will make sure they think the same way and act in harmony, so that they will always honor me so all will be good for them and their descendants.
40I will make an everlasting agreement with them: I'm never going to stop doing them good and I will help them to respect me so that they won't ever abandon me. 41I will be delighted to treat them well, and I will commit myself with the whole of my being to helping them to grow as a nation in this land.
42This is what the Lord says: Just as certainly as I have brought this whole disaster down on my people, so I'm going to give to them all the good things I have promised. 43Fields will once again be bought in this country that you're describing, saying, “It's been completely destroyed—no people or animals are left. It's been handed over to the Babylonians.” 44People will buy fields with silver again, deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen here in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in all the towns of Judah—including the towns of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev—because I will bring the people back from exile, declares the Lord.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Jeremiah 32
32
Jeremiah Buys a Field
1This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. It was in the tenth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah. The tenth year of Zedekiah was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2At that time the army of Babylon was surrounding Jerusalem. Jeremiah was under arrest in the courtyard of the guard. This courtyard was at the palace of the king of Judah.
3Zedekiah king of Judah had put Jeremiah in prison there. Zedekiah had asked, “Why have you prophesied the things you have?” (Jeremiah had said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I will soon give the city of Jerusalem to the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar will capture this city. 4Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the army of the Babylonians. But he will surely be given to the king of Babylon. And Zedekiah will speak to the king of Babylon face to face. Zedekiah will see him with his own eyes. 5The king of Babylon will take Zedekiah to Babylon. Zedekiah will stay there until I have punished him,’ says the Lord. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’”)
6While Jeremiah was prisoner, he said, “The Lord spoke his word to me. He said: 7Jeremiah, your cousin Hanamel will come to you soon. He is the son of your uncle Shallum. Hanamel will say to you, ‘Jeremiah, you are my nearest relative. So buy my field near the town of Anathoth. It is your right and your responsibility to buy that field.’
8“Then it happened just as the Lord had said. My cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard. He said to me, ‘Buy my field near Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. Buy that land for yourself. It is your right to buy it and own it.’ So I knew this was a message from the Lord.
9“I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seven ounces of silver for him. 10I signed the record that showed I now owned the field. And I had a copy of the record sealed up. Some men witnessed it and signed it also. And I weighed out the silver on the scales. 11Then I took the sealed copy of the record of ownership. And I took the copy that was not sealed. 12And I gave them to Baruch son of Neriah. Neriah was the son of Mahseiah. The sealed copy of the record of ownership had all the demands and limits of my purchase. I gave this paper of ownership to Baruch. It was while my cousin Hanamel and the other witnesses were there. Those witnesses also signed the record of ownership. There were also many Jews sitting in the courtyard. And they saw me give the record of ownership to Baruch.
13“With all the people watching, I said to Baruch, 14‘This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: Take both copies of the record of ownership. Take both the sealed copy and the copy that was not sealed. And put them in a clay jar. Do this so that they will last a long time. 15This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: In the future my people will once again buy houses. They will also buy fields for grain and vineyards in the land of Israel.’
16“I gave the record of ownership to Baruch son of Neriah. Then I prayed to the Lord. I said: 17Oh, Lord God, you made the skies and the earth. You made them with your very great power. There is nothing too wonderful for you to do. 18Lord, you show love and kindness to thousands of people. But you also bring punishment to children for their fathers’ sins. Great and powerful God, your name is the Lord of heaven’s armies. 19You plan and do great things, Lord. You see everything that people do. You reward people for the way they live and for what they do. 20Lord, you did miracles and wonderful things in the land of Egypt. You have kept on doing them even until today. You did miracles in Israel and among the other nations. You have become well known. 21Lord, you used signs and miracles and brought your people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. You used your great power and strength to do those things. You brought great terror on everyone. 22Lord, you gave this land to the people of Israel. This is the land you promised to their ancestors long ago. It’s a land where much food grows. 23The people of Israel came into this land and took it for their own. But those people did not obey you. They did not follow your teachings. They did not do the things you commanded. So you made all these terrible things happen to them.
24“And now, the enemy has surrounded the city. They are building roads to the top of the walls. There will be war, hunger and terrible diseases. These will cause the city to be handed over to the Babylonians. They are attacking the city now. Lord, you said this would happen. And now you see it is happening. 25But now, Lord God, you are telling me, ‘Buy the field with silver. Choose some men to watch while I purchase it.’ You are telling me this while the Babylonian army is ready to capture the city.”
26Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah: 27“I am the Lord. I am the God of every person on the earth. You know that nothing is impossible for me. 28So this is what I say: I will soon give the city of Jerusalem to the Babylonian army. And I will give it to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. That army will capture the city. 29The Babylonian army is already attacking the city of Jerusalem. They will soon enter the city and start a fire to burn down the city. They will also burn down the houses. The people of Jerusalem made me angry. They offered sacrifices to Baal on the roofs# In Bible times houses were built with flat roofs. The roof was used for drying things such as flax and fruit. And it was used as an extra room, as a place for worship and as a place to sleep in the summer. of their houses. And the people poured out drink offerings to other idols. 30The people of Israel and Judah have done only the things I said were wrong. They have done this since they were young. They have made me angry by worshiping idols made with their own hands,” says the Lord. 31“From the day Jerusalem was built until now, they have made me very angry. Jerusalem has made me so angry I must remove it from my sight. 32I will destroy it. This is because of the evil the people of Israel and Judah have done. The people, their kings and officers have made me angry. Their priests and prophets have made me angry. All the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem have made me angry. 33They turned their backs to me. I tried to teach them again and again. But they wouldn’t listen to me. I tried to correct them, but they wouldn’t listen. 34They put their hated idols in the place where I have chosen to be worshiped. In this way they made it unclean. 35In the Valley of Ben Hinnom those people built places to worship Baal. They built them so they could burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to Molech. But I never commanded them to do such a hated thing. I never even thought of it! This would make Judah sin.
36“You are saying, ‘There will be war, hunger and terrible diseases. So the city will be handed over to the king of Babylon.’ But the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 37I have forced the people of Israel and Judah to leave their land. I was very furious and angry with them. But I will gather them from the land where I forced them to go. I will bring them back to this place. I will let them live in peace and safety. 38The people of Israel and Judah will be my people. And I will be their God. 39I will make them want to be truly one people. They will have one goal. They will truly want to worship me all their lives. They will do this for their own good and for their children after them.
40“I will make an agreement with them. This agreement will last forever. And I will never turn away from them. I will always be good to them. I will make them want to respect me. Then they will never turn away from me. 41I will enjoy doing good to them. And I will surely plant them in this land and make them grow. I will do this with my whole being.”
42This is what the Lord says: “I have brought this great disaster to the people of Israel and Judah. In the same way I will bring good things to them. I promise to do good things for them. 43You are saying, ‘This land is an empty desert. There are no people or animals here. The Babylonian army defeated this country.’ But in the future, people will once again buy fields in this land. 44They will use their money and buy fields. They will sign and seal their agreements. People will witness their signing records of ownership. They will again buy fields in the land of Benjamin and in the area around Jerusalem. They will buy fields in the towns of Judah and in the mountains. They will buy them in the western mountain slopes and in southern Judah. This is because I will make everything as good as it once was,” says the Lord.
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