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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Jeremiah 32: CEVDCI
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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 Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah the king of Judah, that was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was laying siege to Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, 3where Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had confined him, saying,#Literally “to say” “Why are you prophesying, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it, 4and Zedekiah, the king of Judah, will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but surely he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak face to face with him#Literally “his mouth shall speak with his mouth” and he will see him eye to eye,#Literally “his eyes shall see his eyes” 5and to Babylon he will bring Zedekiah, and there he will be until my attending to him,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not be successful” ’?”
6And Jeremiah said, “The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,#Literally “to say” 7‘Look, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your uncle, is going to come to you, saying,#Literally “to say” “Buy for yourself my field that is at Anathoth, for you have#Literally “to you is” the right of redemption to buy it.” ’#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation 8Then Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me, to the courtyard of the guard according to#Literally “as” the word of Yahweh, and he said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is at Anathoth, that is in the land of Benjamin, for to you is the claim of possession, and to you the redemption; buy it#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.
9And I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, that was at Anathoth. And I weighed out to him the money, seventeen silver shekels. 10And I signed on the letter#Or “scroll” and sealed it,#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation and I called witnesses as witness, and I weighed out the money on a set of scales. 11Then I took the deed#Or “scroll” of the purchase, the sealed copy containing the commandments#Hebrew “commandment” and the rules, together with the one that was open. 12And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of#Literally “before the eyes of” Hanamel, the son of my uncle, and in the presence of#Literally “before the eyes of” the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, in the presence of#Literally “before the eyes of” the Judeans#Hebrew “Judean” who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard. 13And I commanded Baruch in their presence,#Literally “before their eyes” saying,#Literally “to say” 14‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds,#Or “scrolls” this deed of the purchase, the sealed one, and this opened deed, and you must put them in an earthenware jar#Literally “jar of earthenware” so that they may be kept preserved many days.” 15For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” ’
16And I prayed to Yahweh—after giving my deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah—saying,#Literally “to say” 17‘Ah Lord Yahweh! Look, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing#Literally “Not all a thing” is too difficult for you, 18showing loyal love to the thousands, and repaying the guilt of parents#Literally “fathers” into the laps#Hebrew “lap” of their children after them. Powerful, great, mighty, his name is Yahweh of hosts, 19great in counsel and great in deed, whose eyes are opened to all the ways of the children of humankind, to give to each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds, 20who accomplished signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, up to this day, and in Israel, and among humankind, and you have made for yourself a name, as it is this day.
21And you brought out your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an arm stretched out, and with great terror. 22And you gave to them this land, which you swore to their ancestors#Or “fathers” to give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23And they entered and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice, and they did not follow your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded to them to do, and you caused to happen to them all this disaster. 24Look, the siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the plague, and what you spoke happened, and look, you are seeing it.#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation 25Yet you have said to me, Lord Yahweh, “Buy for yourself the field with the money, and call witnesses as witness,” though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”
26And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,#Literally “to say” 27“Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh; is anything#Literally “all thing” too difficult for me?” 28Therefore#Literally “To thus” thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 29And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and where they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger. 30For the people#Or “sons/children” of Israel and the people#Or “sons/children” of Judah were doing only evil in my eyes from their youth, for the people#Or “sons/children” of Israel were only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
31“For this city has been for me a cause of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even until this day, so I will remove it from my sight,#Literally “face” 32because of all the evil of the people#Or “sons/children” of Israel and the people#Or “sons/children” of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men#Hebrew “man” of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33And they have turned to me their backs#Hebrew “back” and not their faces, though I have taught them over and over again,#Literally “I have taught them doing early and teaching” but they were not listening to accept discipline. 34And they set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 35And they built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to present as offerings their sons and their daughters to Molech, which I had not commanded them, and it had not come to my mind#Literally “heart” to do this detestable thing in order to cause Judah to sin.”
36“So now therefore,#Literally “to thus” thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you are saying, ‘It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague’: 37Look, I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath, and I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell in safety.#Literally “with confidence” 38And they will be for me a people, and I will be for them God. 39And I will give to them one heart and one way, to revere me forever,#Literally “all the days” for good to them, and to their children after them. 40And I will make#Literally “cut” with them an everlasting covenant#Literally “a covenant of eternity” that I will not turn away from them, my doing good to them, and my reverence I will put in their hearts#Hebrew “heart” so that they will not turn aside from me. 41And I will rejoice over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness with all my heart, and with all my inner self.”#Or “soul”
42“For thus says Yahweh, ‘Just as I have brought to this people all this great disaster, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise to them. 43And the fields#Hebrew “field” will be bought in this land of which you are saying, “It is a desolation, without humankind or animals.#Literally “from there is not humankind and animal” It has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” 44They will buy fields with money, and they will sign the deeds,#Hebrew “scroll” and they will seal them,#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation and they will call witnesses as witness in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes,’#Hebrew “fortune” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.”
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