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.”
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Jeremiah 32: GNBDK
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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 Buys a Field
1#2Ki 25:1–2; Jer 39:1–2The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2#Ne 3:25; Jer 37:21For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah.
3#Jer 34:2–3; 21:4–7For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy? You say: Thus says the Lord: I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it, 4#Jer 38:18; 38:23and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. 5#Jer 27:22; 33:5And he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will be until I visit him, says the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.”
6So Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 7#Jer 1:1; Lev 25:25Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field that is in Anathoth. For the right of redemption is yours to buy it.”
8#Jer 32:2; 32:7So 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 and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.”
Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. 9I bought the field of Hanamel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels#About 7 ounces, or 200 grams. of silver. 10#Jer 32:44; 32:12; Dt 32:34I signed and sealed the deed, and summoned witnesses, and weighed the money from him in the balances. 11#Lk 2:27So I took the deed of purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open. 12#Jer 32:16; 51:59And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.
13I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, 14Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel that they may last many days. 15#Jer 30:18; 32:43–44For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
Jeremiah Prays for Understanding
16#Ge 32:9–12; Jer 12:1Now when I had delivered the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying:
17#Ge 18:14; 2Ki 19:15Ah Lord God! Truly, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm, and there is nothing too hard for You. 18#Jer 10:16; Ex 34:7You show lovingkindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The Lord of Hosts is His name, 19#Isa 28:29; Jer 17:10great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20#Ne 9:10; Ex 9:16You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, and in Israel, and among other men, and have made Yourself a name, as it is today. 21#Ex 6:6; Dt 26:8And You have brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with great terror. 22#Ex 3:8; 13:5And You have given them this land, which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23#Ezr 9:7; Ps 78:54–55And they entered and possessed it. But they did not obey Your voice or walk 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#Dt 4:26; Jos 23:15–16See, the siege ramps have 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 come to pass, as You can see. 25#Jer 32:24O Lord God, You have said to me, “Buy the field for money and call in witnesses,” although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
God Promises the People’s Return
26Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 27#Nu 16:22; 27:16Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me? 28#Jer 32:3; 19:7–12Therefore thus says the Lord: I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 29#Jer 19:13; 21:10And the Chaldeans who fight against this city will come and set this city on fire and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger.
30#Dt 9:7–12; Isa 63:10Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have only done evil before Me from their youth. For the sons of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, says the Lord. 31#2Ki 23:27; 1Ki 11:7–8Indeed 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, so that I should remove it from before My face, 32#Isa 1:4–6; Jer 2:26because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and of the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33#Jer 2:27; 7:13They have turned their back to Me and not their face. Though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened nor received instruction. 34#Jer 7:30; 2Ki 21:4–7But they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 35#Jer 7:31; Lev 18:21; 20:2–5They built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molek, which I had not commanded them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36#Jer 32:24; 32:3Now 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, and by famine, and by pestilence”: 37#Jer 23:3; 23:6See, I will gather them out of all countries wherever I have driven them in My anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. 38#Jer 24:7; 30:22And they shall be My people, and I will be their God. 39#Dt 11:18–21; 2Ch 30:12And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for their good and for their children after them. 40#Isa 55:3; Jer 50:5And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good. But I will put My fear in their hearts so that they shall not depart from Me. 41#Jer 24:6; Dt 30:9Indeed, 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#Jer 31:28; Zec 8:14–15For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great calamity upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. 43#Jer 32:15; Eze 37:11–14Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, It is desolate, without man or beast. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44#Jer 17:26; 33:7Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes, says the Lord.
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