Jeremiah 32
32
Jeremiah Buys a Field
1 #
2 Kgs 25.1–7
The LORD spoke to me in the tenth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, which was also the eighteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. 2At that time the army of the king of Babylonia was attacking Jerusalem, and I was locked up in the courtyard of the royal palace. 3King Zedekiah had imprisoned me there and had accused me of announcing that the LORD had said, “I am going to let the king of Babylonia capture this city, 4and King Zedekiah will not escape. He will be handed over to the king of Babylonia; he will see him face to face and will speak to him in person. 5Zedekiah will be taken to Babylonia, and he will remain there until I deal with him. Even if he fights the Babylonians, he will not be successful. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
6The LORD told me 7that Hanamel, my uncle Shallum's son, would come to me with the request to buy his field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin, because I was his nearest relative and had the right to buy it for myself. 8Then, just as the LORD had said, Hanamel came to me there in the courtyard and asked me to buy the field. So I knew that the LORD had really spoken to me. 9I bought the field from Hanamel and weighed out the money to him; the price came to seventeen pieces of silver. 10I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the money on scales. 11Then I took both copies of the deed of purchase — the sealed copy containing the contract and its conditions, and the open copy — 12and gave them to Baruch, the son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence of Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase and of the people who were sitting in the courtyard. 13Before them all I said to Baruch, 14“The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, has ordered you to take these deeds, both the sealed deed of purchase and the open copy, and to place them in a clay jar, so that they may be preserved for years to come. 15The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, has said that houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”
Jeremiah's Prayer
16After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, I prayed, 17“Sovereign LORD, you made the earth and the sky by your great power and might; nothing is too difficult for you. 18You have shown constant love to thousands, but you also punish people for the sins of their parents. You are a great and powerful God; you are the LORD Almighty. 19You make wise plans and do mighty things; you see everything that people do, and you reward them according to their actions. 20Long ago, you performed miracles and wonders in Egypt, and you have continued to perform them to this day, both in Israel and among all the other nations, so that you are now known everywhere. 21By means of miracles and wonders that terrified our enemies, you used your power and might to bring your people Israel out of Egypt. 22You gave them this rich and fertile land, as you had promised their ancestors. 23But when they came into this land and took possession of it, they did not obey your commands or live according to your teaching; they did nothing that you had ordered them to do. And so you brought all this destruction on them.
24“The Babylonians have built siege mounds round the city to capture it, and they are attacking. War, starvation, and disease will make the city fall into their hands. You can see that all you have said has come true. 25Yet, Sovereign LORD, you are the one who ordered me to buy the field in the presence of witnesses, even though the city is about to be captured by the Babylonians.”
26Then the LORD said to me, 27“I am the LORD, the God of the whole human race. Nothing is too difficult for me. 28#2 Kgs 25.1–11; 2 Chr 36.17–21I am going to give this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army; they will capture it 29and set it on fire. They will burn it down, together with the houses where people have made me angry by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out wine offerings to other gods. 30From the very beginning of their history the people of Israel and the people of Judah have displeased me and made me angry by what they have done. 31The people of this city have made me angry and furious from the day it was built. I have decided to destroy it 32because of all the evil that has been done by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, together with their kings and leaders, their priests and prophets. 33They turned their backs on me; and though I kept on teaching them, they would not listen and learn. 34#2 Kgs 23.10; Jer 7.30–31; 19.1–6They even placed their disgusting idols in the Temple built for my worship, and they have defiled it. 35#Lev 18.21; 2 Kgs 23.10; Jer 7.31They have built altars to Baal in the Valley of Hinnom, to sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech. I did not command them to do this, and it did not even enter my mind that they would do such a thing and make the people of Judah sin.”
A Promise of Hope
36The LORD, the God of Israel, said to me, “Jeremiah, the people are saying that war, starvation, and disease will make this city fall into the hands of the king of Babylonia. Now listen to what else I have to say. 37I am going to gather the people from all the countries where I have scattered them in my anger and fury, and I am going to bring them back to this place and let them live here in safety. 38Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 39I will give them a single purpose in life: to honour me for all time, for their own good and the good of their descendants. 40I will make an eternal covenant with them. I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will make them fear me with all their heart, so that they will never turn away from me. 41I will take pleasure in doing good things for them, and I will establish them permanently in this land.
42“Just as I have brought this disaster on these people, so I am going to give them all the good things that I have promised. 43The people are saying that this land will be like a desert where neither people nor animals live, and that it will be given over to the Babylonians. But fields will once again be bought in this land. 44People will buy them, and the deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will take place in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages round Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah, and in the towns in the hill country, in the foothills, and in southern Judah. I will restore the people to their land. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 32: GNBDK
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 32
32
Jeremiah’s Land Purchase
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah#2Kg 24:17–20; 2Ch 36:10–12; Jr 27:1–11 of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.#Jr 29:1 2At that time, the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem,#Jr 39:1 and the prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned in the guard’s courtyard#Neh 3:25; Jr 33:1; 37:21; 38:6; 39:14 in the palace of the king of Judah. 3King Zedekiah of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why are you prophesying as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am about to hand this city over to Babylon’s king, and he will capture it. 4King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Chaldeans; indeed, he will certainly be handed over to Babylon’s king. They will speak face to face#32:4 Lit His mouth will speak with his mouth and meet eye to eye.#Jr 34:3 5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will stay until I attend to him — this is the Lord’s declaration. For you will fight the Chaldeans, but you will not succeed.’”#Jr 21:3–7; 27:22; 34:2–3; 37:11–14
6Jeremiah replied, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy my field in Anathoth#1Kg 2:26; Jr 1:1; 11:21,23 for yourself, for you own the right of redemption#Lv 25:24–52; Ru 4:1–7 to buy it.’
8“Then, as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to the guard’s courtyard and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. 9So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out the silver to him#Gn 23:16; Zch 11:12 — seventeen shekels#32:9 About seven ounces of silver. 10I recorded it on a scroll,#Jr 32:44 sealed it, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. 11I took the purchase agreement — the sealed copy with its terms and conditions and the open copy — 12and gave the purchase agreement to Baruch#Jr 36:4–32; 43:3,6; 45:1–2 son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. I did this in the sight of my cousin#32:12 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read uncle Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the purchase agreement, and all the Judeans sitting in the guard’s courtyard.
13“I charged Baruch in their sight, 14‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Take these scrolls — this purchase agreement with the sealed copy and this open copy — and put them in an earthen storage jar so they will last a long time. 15For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’#Jr 32:43
16“After I had given the purchase agreement to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:#Jr 42:4 17Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth#2Kg 19:15; 2Ch 2:12; Is 37:16 by your great power#Dt 4:37; Neh 1:10; Jr 27:5 and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!#Gn 18:14; Ex 3:20; 15:11; 34:10; Dt 17:8; Ps 40:5; 78:4; Jr 32:27; Zch 8:6; Mt 17:20; 19:26 18You show faithful love to thousands but lay the fathers’ iniquity on their sons’ laps after them,#Ex 20:5–6; 34:7; Nm 14:18; Dt 5:9–10; 7:9 great and mighty God#Neh 9:32 whose name is the Lord of Armies, 19the one great in counsel and powerful in action. Your eyes are on all the ways of the children of men#32:19 Or Adam in order to reward each person according to his ways and as the result of his actions.#Jr 4:18; 17:10 20You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt#Ex 1–15; Dt 6:22; Neh 9:10 and still do today, both in Israel and among all mankind. You made a name#Is 63:12,14; Dn 9:15 for yourself, as is the case today. 21You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.#Ex 7:3; Dt 4:34; 6:22; 26:8; 34:11; Ps 78:43; 135:9 22You gave them this land you swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.#Ex 3:8,17; Lv 20:24; Nm 13:27; Dt 26:9 23They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey you or live according to your instructions.#Nm 14:22; Dt 28:45,62; Jos 5:6; Jdg 6:10; 2Kg 18:12; Ps 78:10; 81:11; Is 42:24; Jr 9:13; 32:23; 44:10 They failed to perform all you commanded them to do,#Jr 11:8 and so you have brought all this disaster on them. 24Look! Siege ramps#2Kg 25:1; Jr 6:6; Ezk 4:2 have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you have spoken has happened. Look, you can see it! 25Yet you, Lord God, have said to me, ‘Purchase the field and call in witnesses’ — even though the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans!”
26The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27“Look, I am the Lord, the God over every creature.#Nm 16:22; 27:16 Is anything too difficult for me?#Gn 18:4 28Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to hand this city over to the Chaldeans,#Jr 32:3 to Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar, and he will capture it. 29The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come and set this city on fire. They will burn it, including the houses where incense has been burned to Baal on their rooftops and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to anger me.#Jr 11:17; 44:3,8 30From their youth, the Israelites and Judeans have done nothing but what is evil in my sight! They have done nothing but anger me by the work of their hands”#Jr 25:7 — this is the Lord’s declaration — 31“for this city has caused my wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. I will therefore remove it from my presence#2Kg 23:27; 24:3 32because of all the evil the Israelites and Judeans have done to anger me — they, their kings,#Jr 2:26 their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. 33They have turned their backs to me and not their faces.#2Ch 29:6; Jr 2:27; 18:17; Ezk 8:16 Though I taught them time and time again,#32:33 Lit them, rising up early and teaching#Jr 7:13,25; 11:7; 25:3; 26:5; 29:19; 35:14,15; 44:4 they do not listen and receive discipline. 34They have placed their abhorrent things#Jr 4:1; 7:30; Ezk 5:11 in the house that bears my name and have defiled it. 35They have built the high places of Baal in Ben Hinnom Valley to sacrifice their sons and daughters in the fire#32:35 Lit to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech#Lv 18:21; 20:2–5; Dt 18:10; 2Kg 23:10; Jr 7:31; 19:4 — something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought#32:35 Lit them, and it did not arise on my heart that they do this detestable act causing Judah to sin!
36“Now therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to this city about which you said, ‘It has been handed over to Babylon’s king through sword, famine, and plague’: 37I will certainly gather them from all the lands where I have banished them in my anger, fury, and intense wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them live in safety.#Dt 12:10; Is 11:12; Jr 23:3; 29:14; 30:10; 31:8–14; Ezk 11:17; 28:26; 34:25,28; 36:24 38They will be my people, and I will be their God.#Jr 11:4; 24:7; 30:22; Ezk 11:20; 14:11; 36:28; 37:23 39I will give them integrity of heart#Ezk 11:19 and action#32:39 Lit give them one heart and one way so that they will fear me always, for their good and for the good of their descendants after them.
40“I will make a permanent covenant with them:#Gn 17:7,13,19; Is 55:3; 61:8; Jr 50:5; Ezk 16:60; 37:26 I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear of me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from me.#Dt 19:20; Is 2:4; 60:18; Jr 3:16; 30:8; 31:34; Ezk 29:16; Jl 2:26–27; Am 9:15; Mc 4:3; Nah 1:15; Zph 3:11; Heb 8:11; 10:17 41I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all my heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land.#Jr 24:6
42“For this is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all this terrible disaster on these people,#Jr 31:28 so am I about to bring on them all the good I am promising them. 43Fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying,#Jr 32:15 ‘It’s a desolation#Jr 33:10 without people or animals; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans!’ 44Fields will be purchased, the transaction written on a scroll and sealed,#Jr 32:10 and witnesses will be called on in the land of Benjamin,#Jr 17:26 in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in Judah’s cities — the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, and the cities of the Negev — because I will restore their fortunes.”#32:44 Or will end their captivity
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers