Jeremiah 32
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, —the same, was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar;
This is the Lord's message that came to Jeremiah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah's reign, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.
2 and, then, the forces of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem, —and, Jeremiah the prophet, had been shut up in the guard-court, which was in the house of the king of Judah;
This was when the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the guard's courtyard, part of the king of Judah's palace.
3 whom Zedekiah king of Judah, had shut up, saying, —Why art thou prophesying, saying, —Thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! giving up this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
Zedekiah king of Judah had put him in prison, telling him: “Why do you have to prophesy like this? You say the Lord is saying, ‘Look, I'm going to hand over this city to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
4 and, Zedekiah king of Judah! shall not be delivered out of the hand of the Chaldeans, —for he shall be wholly given up, into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak—the mouth of the one to the mouth of the other, and the eyes of the one into the eyes of the other, shall look;
Zedekiah king of Judah won't escape from the Babylonians. He will be captured and taken to the king of Babylon to speak with him personally and see him face to face.
5 and into Babylon, shall he lead Zedekiah and, there, shall he remain, until I visit him, Declareth Yahweh, —though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?
He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he'll remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. You won't be successful if you fight against the Babylonians.’”
6 And Jeremiah said, —The word of Yahweh came unto me saying:
Jeremiah answered, “The Lord gave me a message, saying:
7 Lo! Hanameel son of Shallum thine uncle, hath come unto thee saying, —Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth, for, thine, is the right of redemption to buy it.
Your cousin Hanamel, son of Shallum, is coming to tell you, ‘Why don't you buy my field in Anathoth because you have the right to redeem it and buy it?’
8 So Hanameel son of mine uncle, came unto me, according to the word of Yahweh into the guard-court, and said unto me, Buy, I pray thee my field that is in Anathoth which is in the land of Benjamin, for, thine, is the right of inheritance, and, thine, the redemption, —buy it for thyself. So I knew, that the word of Yahweh, it was.
Just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel arrived to see me in the guard's courtyard and asked me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin because you have the right of family ownership to redeem it. You should buy it for yourself.’” This convinced me that this was a message from the Lord.
9 And I bought the field from Hanameel son of mine uncle that was in Anathoth, —and weighed him the silver, seventeen shekels, was the silver;
So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver to pay him.
10 and I wrote in the scroll and sealed it, and took in attestation witnesses, —and weighed the silver in the balances.
I signed the deed and sealed it, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver using the scales.
11 Then took I the scroll of purchase, both that which was sealed—the title and the conditions—and that which was open;
Then I took the deed of sale, both the sealed original containing the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy,
12 and gave the scroll of purchase unto Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle[’s son], and in the sight of the witnesses who subscribed the scroll of purchase, —in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the guard-court.
and handed them to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. I did this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of sale, and all the people of Judah who were sitting there in the guard's courtyard.
13 Then charged I Baruch in their sight saying:
I gave Baruch these instructions in front of them,
14 Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Take thou these scrolls, this scroll of purchase even that which is sealed, and this scroll that is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, —that they may remain many days,
“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Put these deeds of sale, the sealed original and the open copy, in a clay jar so they can be kept safe for a long time.
15 For Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel: Again, shall houses and fields and vineyards, be bought, in this land.
For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: The time will come when once again houses, fields, and vineyards will be bought in this country.”
16 Then prayed I unto Yahweh, —after I had delivered the scroll of purchase unto Baruch son of Neriah, saying: —
After I had given the deed of sale to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:
17 Alas! My Lord, Yahweh! Lo! thou thyself, didst make the heavens, and the earth, by thy great might, and by thine outstretched arm, —There is nothing, too wonderful for thee:
“Ah, Lord God! You created the heavens and the earth by your great strength and power. Nothing is too hard for you!
18 Executing lovingkindness unto thousands, But recompensing the iniquity of fathers, into the bosom of their children, after them, Thou GOD, the great the mighty, Yahweh of hosts, is his name:
You give your trustworthy love to thousands, but you punish the sins of the fathers the consequences affect their children too., Great and powerful God whose name is the Lord Almighty,
19 Great in counsel, and mighty in deed, —Whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give unto every one, According to his ways, and According to the fruit of his doings:
you are the one who is supremely wise and who does incredible things. You watch what everyone does, and you reward them according to the way they live and what their actions deserve.
20 Who didst set signs and wonders, in the land of Egypt, unto this day, and in Israel and among mankind, —And didst make for thyself a name as at this day;
You carried out signs and miracles in Egypt, and you still do so today, both here in Israel and among all people everywhere. As a result you gained a great reputation, and this is still true today.
21 And didst bring forth thy people Israel out of the land of, Egypt, With signs and with wonders, and With a strong hand, and With an outstretched arm, and With great terror;
You led your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and miracles, with your great power and strength that terrified people.
22 And didst give unto them this land, which thou hadst sworn to their fathers to give unto them, —a land flowing with milk and honey;
You gave them this land that you had promised to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
23 And they came in and took possession of it But hearkened not unto thy voice Nor in thy law, did they walk, Nought of what thou hadst commanded them to do, did they do, —And so thou hast caused to befall them all this calamity.
They came and took it over, but they didn't do what you said or follow your laws. They didn't do everything you ordered them to do, which is why you've brought all this disaster down on them.
24 Lo! the earthworks! they have entered the city, to capture it, And the city, hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans, who are fighting against it, because of the sword and the famine and the pestilence, —And so what thou didst speak, hath come to pass, And there thou art looking on!
Look at the siege ramps piled up against the city to capture it! Through war and famine and disease, the city will be taken by the Babylonians who are attacking it. You can see that everything you said would happen has happened.
25 Yet, thou thyself, saidst unto me, O My Lord, Yahweh, Buy thee the field for silver And take in attestation, witnesses, —Whereas, the city, hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans!
Yet, Lord God, you have told me, ‘Buy yourself the field with silver in front of witnesses, even though the city has been handed over to the Babylonians!’”
26 Then came the word of Yahweh, unto Jeremiah, saying: —
Then Lord gave Jeremiah this message:
27 Lo! I, am Yahweh, God of all flesh, —For me, is any thing too wonderful?
Look! I am the Lord, the God of everyone. Is anything too hard for me to do?
28 Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, —Behold me! giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
So this is what the Lord says: Listen! I'm going to hand over this city to the king of Babylon and the Babylonians, and they will capture it.
29 And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, Shall enter, and Shall set this city on fire, and Shall consume it, —With the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger;
The Babylonians who are attacking the city are going to come and set fire to it. They will burn it down, including the houses belonging to the people who made me angry by burning incense to Baal on their rooftops, and by pouring out drink offerings in worship of other gods.
30 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been nothing but doers of wickedness in my sight from the days of their youth, —For the sons of Israel have been doing nothing but provoke me to anger by the workmanship of their hands, Declareth Yahweh;
From their earliest days all the people of Israel and of Judah have ever done has been evil in my sight. In fact all they've even done is to make me angry through their actions, declares the Lord.
31 For According to mine anger, and According to mine indignation, hath been to me this city, from the day when they built it even unto this day, —that I should pull it down from before my face:
This city has been such a source of anger and frustration from the time it was built right up till now. So I'm going to get rid of it,
32 because of all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
because of all the evil things the people of Israel and Judah did that made me angry—their kings, and officials, their priests and prophets, all of those living in Judah and Jerusalem, everyone
33 Thus have they turned unto me the back, and not the face, —Though I instructed them, betimes, instructing them, Yet have they not been hearkening, to receive correction;
They have turned their backs on me. They wouldn't even look at me. Even though I kept on trying to teach them, they refused to listen or accept instruction.
34 But have set their abominations in the house on which my name hath been called, to defile it;
They have put their disgusting idols in my Temple, making it unclean.
35 And have built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of Ben-hinnom, To cause their sons and their daughters to pass through unto Molech, Which I commanded them not Neither came it up on my heart, That they should do this horrible thing, —Causing, Judah, to sin!
They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the Valley of Hinnom so they could sacrifice their sons and daughters by burning them in the fire. This is something I never commanded. I never even thought of such a thing—doing something so awful and making the people of Judah guilty of sin.
36 Now therefore, because of this, —Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, —Concerning this city, whereof ye are saying, It hath been delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, by sword, and by famine and by pestilence:
Now about this city. You are correctly saying, “It's going be handed over to the king of Babylon through war and famine and disease.” However, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
37 Behold me! gathering them out of all the lands whither I have driven them—In mine anger and In mine indignation and In great vexation, —And I will cause them to return into this place, And will make them dwell, securely;
I promise to gather my people from all the lands where I exiled them because they made me so very angry. I will bring them back here and they will live in safety.
38 And they shall become my people, —And, I, will become their God;
They will be my people, and I will be their God.
39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, That they may revere me, all the days, —For the good of them and of their children after them;
I will make sure they think the same way and act in harmony, so that they will always honor me so all will be good for them and their descendants.
40 And I will solemnise to them an age-abiding covenant, That I will not turn away from following them, to do them good, —But the reverence of myself, will I put in their heart, so that they shall not turn away from me.
I will make an everlasting agreement with them: I'm never going to stop doing them good and I will help them to respect me so that they won't ever abandon me.
41 And I will rejoice over them, to do them good, —And will plant them in this land in truth, with all my heart and with all my soul.
I will be delighted to treat them well, and I will commit myself with the whole of my being to helping them to grow as a nation in this land.
42 For, Thus, saith Yahweh, Like as I have brought upon this people all this great calamity, So, am I bringing upon them all the good that I am speaking concerning them.
This is what the Lord says: Just as certainly as I have brought this whole disaster down on my people, so I'm going to give to them all the good things I have promised.
43 Therefore shall fields be bought in this land, —whereof ye are saying, It is, a desolation, Without man or beast, It hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans:
Fields will once again be bought in this country that you're describing, saying, “It's been completely destroyed—no people or animals are left. It's been handed over to the Babylonians.”
44 Fields—for silver, shall men buy, And write in scrolls And seal them, And take in attestation, witnesses, In the land of Benjamin, and In the places round about Jerusalem, and In the cities of Judah, and In the cities of the hill country, and In the cities of the lowland and In the cities of the South, —For I will cause them of their captivity to return Declareth Yahweh.
People will buy fields with silver again, deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen here in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in all the towns of Judah—including the towns of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev—because I will bring the people back from exile, declares the Lord.
