Jeremiah 39
1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.
The word that came from the Lord to Jeremias in the tenth year of king Sedekias, this is the eighteenth year of king Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon.
2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.
And the host of the king of Babylon had made a rampart against Jerusalem: and Jeremias was kept in the court of the prison, which is in the king's house;
3 All the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate: Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.
in which king Sedekias [had] shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I [will] give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
4 When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.
and Sedekias shall by no means be delivered out of the hand of the Chaldeans, for he shall certainly be given up into the hands of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak to his mouth, and his eyes shall look upon his eyes;
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. When they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him.
and Sedekias shall go into Babylon, and dwell there?
6 Then the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.
AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO JEREMIAS, SAYING,
7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
Behold, Anameel the son of Salom thy father's brother is coming to thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for thou [hast] the right to take [it] as a purchase.
8 The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the people’s houses with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
So Anameel the son of Salom my father's brother came to me into the court of the prison, and said, Buy thee my field that is in the land of Benjamin, in Anathoth: for thou [hast] a right to buy it, and thou art the elder. So I knew that it was the word of the Lord.
9 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the rest of the people who remained.
And I bought the field of Anameel the son of my father's brother, and I weighed him seventeen shekels of silver.
10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
And I wrote [it] in a book, and sealed [it], and took the testimony of witnesses, and weighed the money in the balance.
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard concerning Jeremiah, saying,
And I took the book of the purchase that was sealed;
12 “Take him and take care of him. Do him no harm; but do to him even as he tells you.”
and I gave it to Baruch son of Nerias, son of Maasaeas, in the sight of Anameel my father's brother's son, and in the sight of the men that stood by and wrote in the book of the purchase, and in the sight of the Jews that were in the court of the prison.
13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban, Rabsaris, and Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon
And I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, Thus saith the Lord Almighty;
14 sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should bring him home. So he lived among the people.
Take this book of the purchase, and the book that has been read; and thou shalt put it into an earthen vessel, that it may remain many days.
15 Now the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying,
For thus saith the Lord; There shall yet be bought fields and houses and vineyards in this land.
16 “Go, and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring my words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you in that day.
And I prayed to the Lord after I had given the book of the purchase to Baruch the son of Nerias, saying,
17 But I will deliver you in that day,” says the LORD; “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.
O [ever] living Lord! thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power, and with thy high and lofty arm: nothing can be hidden from thee.
18 For I will surely save you. You will not fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,” says the LORD.’”
Granting mercy to thousands, and recompensing the sins of the fathers into the bosoms of their children after them: the great, the strong God;
the Lord of great counsel, and mighty in deeds, the great Almighty God, and Lord of great name: thine eyes are upon the ways of the children of men, to give to every one according to his way:
who hast wrought signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even to this day, and in Israel, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and thou didst make for thyself a name, as at this day;
and thou didst bring out thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, with a mighty hand, and with a high arm, and with great sights;
and thou gavest them this land, which thou didst swear [to give] to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey;
and they went in, and took it; but they hearkened not to thy voice, and walked not in thine ordinances; they did none of the things which thou didst command them, and they caused all these calamities to happen to them.
Behold, a multitude is come against the city to take it; and the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans that fight against it, by the power of the sword, and the famine: as thou hast spoken, so has it happened.
And thou sayest to me, Buy thee the field for money; and I wrote a book, and sealed [it], and took the testimony of witnesses: and the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: shall anything be hidden from me!
Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel; This city shall certainly be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
and the Chaldeans shall come to war against this city, and they shall burn this city with fire, and shall burn down the houses wherein they burnt incense on the roofs thereof to Baal, and poured drink-offerings to other gods, to provoke me.
For the children of Israel and the children of Juda alone did evil in my sight from their youth.
For this city was [obnoxious] to my anger and my wrath, from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from my presence,
because of all the wickedness of the children of Israel and Juda, which they wrought to provoke me, they and their kings, and their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, the men of Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem.
And they turned the back to me, and not the face: whereas I taught them early in the morning, but they hearkened no more to receive instructions.
And they set their pollutions in the house, on which my name was called, by their uncleannesses.
And they built to Baal the altars that are in the valley of the son of Ennom, to offer their sons and their daughters to king Moloch; which things I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Juda to sin.
And now thus has the Lord God of Israel said concerning this city, of which thou sayest, it shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by famine, and banishment.
Behold, I [will] gather them out of every land, where I have scattered them in my anger, and my wrath, and great fury; and I will bring them back into this place, and will cause them to dwell safely:
and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a god.
And I will give them another way, and another heart, to fear me continually, and [that] for good to them and their children after them.
And I will make with them an everlasting covenant, which I will by no means turn away from them, and I will put my fear into their heart, that they may not depart from me.
And I will visit [them] to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, and with all my heart, and with all [my] soul.
For thus saith the Lord; As I have brought upon this people all these great evils, so will I bring upon them all the good things which I pronounced upon them.
And there shall yet be fields bought in the land, of which thou sayest, it shall be destitute of man and beast; and they are delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.
And they shall buy fields for money, and thou shalt write a book, and seal [it], and shalt take the testimony of witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and round about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Juda, and in the cities of the mountain, and in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south: for I will turn their captivity.
