Jeremiah 32
32
Jeremiah Buys a Field
1 #
2 K 25.1-7. The Lord spoke to me in the tenth year that Zedekiah#32.1 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3. was king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year that Nebuchadnezzar#32.1 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. was king of Babylonia. 2At that time, the Babylonian army had surrounded Jerusalem, and I was in the prison at the courtyard of the palace guards. 3Zedekiah had ordered me to be held there because I told everyone that the Lord had said:
I am the Lord, and I am about to let the king of Babylonia conquer Jerusalem. 4King Zedekiah will be captured and taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who will speak with him face to face. 5Then Zedekiah will be led away to Babylonia, where he will stay until I am finished with him. So, if you people of Judah fight against the Babylonians, you will lose. I, the Lord, have spoken.
6Later, when I was in prison, the Lord said:
7Jeremiah, your cousin Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will visit you. He must sell his field near the town of Anathoth, and because you are his nearest relative, you have the right and the responsibility to buy it and keep it in the family.#32.7 you have the right … in the family: See Leviticus 25.25-32.
8Hanamel came, just as the Lord had promised. And he said, “Please buy my field near Anathoth in the territory of the Benjamin tribe. You have the right to buy it, and if you do, it will stay in our family.”
The Lord had told me to buy it 9from Hanamel, and so I did. The price was 17 pieces of silver, and I weighed out the full amount on a scale. 10-11I had two copies of the bill of sale written out: an official copy containing the details of our agreement and another copy, without the details. Some witnesses and I signed the official copy, which was folded and tied, before being sealed shut with hot wax.#32.10,11 signed the official copy, which was folded and tied, before being sealed shut with hot wax: The signing was actually done by pressing a carved clay stamp (called a “seal”) into the hot wax, leaving the design in the wax. Then I gave Hanamel the silver. 12And while he, the witnesses, and all the other Jews sitting in the courtyard were still watching, I gave both copies to Baruch son of Neriah.#32.12 Baruch son of Neriah: Hebrew “Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah.”
13-14I told Baruch that the Lord had said:
Take both copies of this bill of sale, one sealed shut and the other open, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. 15I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and I promise you that people will once again buy and sell houses, farms, and vineyards in this country.
Jeremiah Questions the Lord
16Then I prayed:
17 Lord God, you stretched out your mighty arm and made the sky and the earth. You can do anything. 18You show kindness for a thousand generations,#32.18 for a thousand generations: Or “to thousands of people.” but you also punish people for the sins of their parents. You are the Lord All-Powerful. 19With great wisdom you make plans, and with your great power you do all the mighty things you planned. Nothing we do is hidden from your eyes, and you reward or punish us as we deserve.
20You are famous because you worked miracles in Egypt, and you are still working them in Israel and in the rest of the world as well. 21You terrified the Egyptians with your miracles, and you reached out your mighty arm and rescued your people Israel from Egypt. 22Then you gave Israel this land rich with milk and honey, just as you had promised our ancestors.
23But when our ancestors took over the land, they did not obey you. And now you have punished Israel with disaster. 24Jerusalem is under attack, and we suffer from hunger and disease. The Babylonians have already built dirt ramps up to the walls of our city, and you can see that Jerusalem will be captured just as you said.
25So why did you tell me to get some witnesses and buy a field with my silver, when Jerusalem is about to be captured by the Babylonians?
The Lord Explains about the Field
26The Lord explained:
27Jeremiah, I am the Lord God. I rule the world, and I can do anything!
28 #
2 K 25.1-11; 2 Ch 36.17-21. It is true that I am going to let King Nebuchadnezzar#32.28 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. of Babylonia capture Jerusalem. 29The Babylonian army is already attacking, and they will capture the city and set it on fire. The people of Jerusalem have made me angry by going up to the flat roofs of their houses and burning incense to Baal and offering wine sacrifices to other gods. Now these houses will be burned to the ground!
30-33The kings and the officials, the priests and the prophets, and everyone else in Israel and Judah have turned from me and made me angry by worshiping idols. Again and again I have tried to teach my people to obey me, but they refuse to be corrected.
I am going to get rid of Jerusalem, because its people have done nothing but evil. 34#2 K 23.10; Jr 7.30,31; 19.1-6. They have set up repulsive idols in my temple, and now it isn't a fit place to worship me. 35#2 K 23.10; Jr 7.31; Lv 18.21. And they led Judah into sin by building places to worship Baal in Hinnom Valley, where they also sacrificed their sons and daughters to the god Molech. I have never even imagined they would commit such disgusting sins.
36Jeremiah, what you said is true. The people of Jerusalem are suffering from hunger and disease, and so the king of Babylonia will be able to capture Jerusalem.
37I am angry with the people of Jerusalem, and I will scatter them in foreign countries. But someday I will bring them back here and let them live in safety. 38They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39-41I will make their thoughts and desires pure. Then they will realize that, for their own good and the good of their children, they must worship only me. They will even be afraid to turn away from me. I will make an agreement with them that will never end, and I won't ever stop doing good things for them. With all my heart I promise that they will be planted in this land once again. 42Even though I have brought disaster on the people, I will someday do all these good things for them.
43Jeremiah, when you bought the field, you showed that fields will someday be bought and sold again. You say that this land has been conquered by the Babylonians and has become a desert, emptied of people and animals. 44But someday, people will again spend their silver to buy fields everywhere—in the territory of Benjamin, the region around Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and in the hill country, the foothills to the west, and the Southern Desert. Buyers and sellers and witnesses will sign and seal the bills of sale for the fields. It will happen, because I will give this land back to my people. I, the Lord, have spoken.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 32
32
Jeremiah Buys a Field
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord #2 Kin. 25:1, 2; Jer. 39:1, 2in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up #Neh. 3:25; Jer. 33:1; 37:21; 39:14in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you #Jer. 26:8, 9prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: #Jer. 21:3–7; 34:2“Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; 4and Zedekiah king of Judah #2 Kin. 25:4–7; Jer. 34:3; 38:18, 23; 39:5; 52:9shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him #Jer. 39:5eye to eye; 5then he shall #Jer. 27:22; 39:7; Ezek. 12:12, 13lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be #Jer. 27:22until I visit him,” says the Lord; #Jer. 21:4; 33:5“though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ’?”
6And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 7‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the #Lev. 25:24, 25, 32; Ruth 4:4right of redemption is yours to buy it.” ’ 8Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. 9So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and #Gen. 23:16; Zech. 11:12weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. 10And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. 11So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; 12and I gave the purchase deed to #Jer. 36:4Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the #Is. 8:2witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.
13“Then I charged #Jer. 36:4Baruch before them, saying, 14‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.” 15For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be #Ezra 2:1; (Jer. 31:5, 12, 14); Amos 9:14, 15; Zech. 3:10possessed again in this land.” ’
Jeremiah Prays for Understanding
16“Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: 17‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, #2 Kin. 19:15; Ps. 102:25; Is. 40:26–29; Jer. 27:5You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. #Gen. 18:14; Jer. 32:27; Zech. 8:6; Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27There is nothing too hard for You. 18You show #Ex. 20:6; 34:7; Deut. 5:9, 10lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, #Ps. 50:1; (Is. 9:6); Jer. 20:11the Mighty God, whose name is #Jer. 10:16the Lord of hosts. 19You are #Is. 28:29great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your #Job 34:21; Ps. 33:13; Prov. 5:21; Jer. 16:17eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, #Ps. 62:12; Jer. 17:10; (Matt. 16:27; John 5:29)to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. 20You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself #Ex. 9:16; 1 Chr. 17:21; Is. 63:12; Jer. 13:11; Dan. 9:15a name, as it is this day. 21You #Ex. 6:6; 2 Sam. 7:23; 1 Chr. 17:21; Ps. 136:11, 12have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—#Ex. 3:8, 17; Deut. 1:8; Ps. 105:9–11; Jer. 11:5“a land flowing with milk and honey.” 23And they came in and took possession of it, but #(Neh. 9:26); Jer. 11:8; (Dan. 9:10–14)they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.
24‘Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of #Jer. 14:12; Ezek. 14:21the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! 25And You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses”!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”
God’s Assurance of the People’s Return
26Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 27“Behold, I am the Lord, the #(Num. 16:22)God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? 28Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 29And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and #2 Chr. 36:19; Jer. 21:10; 37:8, 10; 52:13set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses #Jer. 19:13on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger; 30because the children of Israel and the children of Judah #Deut. 9:7–12; Is. 63:10; Jer. 2:7; 3:25; 7:22–26; Ezek. 20:28have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,’ says the Lord. 31‘For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; #2 Kin. 23:27; 24:3; Jer. 27:10so I will remove it from before My face 32because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—#Ezra 9:7; Is. 1:4, 6; Dan. 9:8they, their kings, their princes, their priests, #Jer. 23:14their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33And they have turned to Me the #Jer. 2:27; 7:24back, and not the face; though I taught them, #Jer. 7:13rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34But they #2 Kin. 21:1–7; Jer. 7:10–12, 30; 23:11; Ezek. 8:5, 6set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 35And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to #2 Chr. 28:2, 3; 33:6; Jer. 7:31; 19:5cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to #Lev. 18:21; 1 Kin. 11:33; 2 Kin. 23:10; Acts 7:43Molech, #Jer. 7:31which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’
36“Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence’: 37Behold, I will #Deut. 30:3; Jer. 23:3; 29:14; 31:10; 50:19; Ezek. 37:21gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them #Jer. 33:16to dwell safely. 38They shall be #(Jer. 24:7; 30:22; 31:33)My people, and I will be their God; 39then I will #(Jer. 24:7; Ezek. 11:19)give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40And #Is. 55:3; Jer. 31:31; Ezek. 37:26I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but #Deut. 31:6, 8; (Ezek. 39:29; Jer. 31:33)I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41Yes, #Deut. 30:9; Is. 62:5; 65:19; Zeph. 3:17I will rejoice over them to do them good, and #Jer. 24:6; 31:28; Amos 9:15I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’
42“For thus says the Lord: #Jer. 31:28; Zech. 8:14, 15‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 43And fields will be bought in this land #Jer. 33:10of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” 44Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in #Jer. 17:26the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for #Jer. 33:7, 11I will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.