Jeremiah 32

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

2 Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house.

3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;

4 and Zedekiah king of Judah won’t 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 mouth to mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes;

5 and he will bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” says Yahweh, “though you fight with the Chaldeans, you will not prosper”’?”

6 Jeremiah said, “Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

7 ‘Behold, Hanamel 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 “So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to Yahweh’s word, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.’ “Then I knew that this was Yahweh’s word.

9 I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

10 I signed the deed, sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the money in the balances to him.

11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open;

12 and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.

13 “I commanded Baruch before them, saying,

14 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.’

15 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.’

Thus said the Lord God of Israel; Take the cup of this unmixed wine from mine hand, and you shall cause all the nations to drink, to whom I send you.

16 Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying,

And they shall drink, and vomit, and be mad, because of the sword which I send amongst them.

17 “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.

So I took the cup out of the Lord's hand, and caused the nations to whom the Lord sent me to drink:

18 You show loving kindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God, Yahweh of Armies is your name:

Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings of Juda, and his princes, to make them a desert place, a desolation, and a hissing;

19 great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings;

and Pharao king of Egypt, and his servants, and his nobles, and all his people;

20 who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men; and made yourself a name, as it is today;

and all the mingled [people], and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ascalon, and Gaza, and Accaron, and the remnant of Azotus,

21 and brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, with wonders, with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, and with great terror;

and Idumea, and the land of Moab, and the children of Ammon,

22 and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

and the kings of Tyre, and the kings of Sidon, and the kings in the [country] beyond the sea,

23 They came in and possessed it, but they didn’t obey your voice and didn’t walk in your law. They have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them.

and Daedan, and Thaeman, and Ros, and every one that is shaved round about the face,

24 “Behold, siege ramps have been built against the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, of the famine, and of the pestilence. What you have spoken has happened. Behold, you see it.

and all the mingled [people] lodging in the wilderness,

25 You have said to me, Lord Yahweh, ‘Buy the field for money, and call witnesses;’ whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”

and all the kings of Aelam, and all the kings of the Persians,

26 Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,

and all the kings from the north, the far and the near, each one with his brother, and all the kingdoms which are on the face of the earth.

27 “Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?

And you shall say to them, Thus said the Lord Almighty; Drink you, be you drunken; and you shall vomit, and shall fall, and shall in nowise rise, because of the sword which I send amongst you.

28 Therefore Yahweh says: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.

And it shall come to pass, when they refuse to take the cup out of your hand, to drink it, that you shall say, Thus said the Lord; You shall surely drink.

29 The Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

For I am beginning to afflict the city whereon my name is called, and you shall by no means be held guiltless: for I am calling a sword upon all that dwell upon the earth.

30 “For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh.

And you shall prophesy against them these words, and shall say, The Lord shall speak from on high, from his sanctuary he will utter his voice; he will pronounce a declaration on his place; and these shall answer like men gathering grapes: and destruction is coming on them that dwell on the earth,

31 For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day, so that I should remove it from before my face,

[even] upon [the extreme] part of the earth; for the Lord [has] a controversy with the nations, he is pleading with all flesh, and the ungodly are given to the sword, says the Lord.

32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Thus said the Lord; Behold, evils are proceeding from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind goes forth from the end of the earth.

33 They have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. Although I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.

And the slain of the Lord shall be in the day of the Lord from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth.

34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

Howl, you shepherds, and cry; and lament, you rams of the flock: for your days have been completed for slaughter, and you shall fall as the choice rams.

35 They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through fire to Molech, which I didn’t command them. It didn’t even come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”

And flight shall perish from the shepherds, and safety from the rams of the flock.

36 Now therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says concerning this city, about which you say, “It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:”

A voice of the crying of the shepherds, and a moaning of the sheep and the rams: for the Lord has destroyed their pastures.

37 “Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place. I will cause them to dwell safely.

And the peaceful abodes that remain shall be destroyed before the fierceness of my anger.

38 Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

He has forsaken his lair, as a lion: for their land is become desolate before the great sword.

39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good and the good of their children after them.

40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.

41 Yes, 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 For Yahweh says: “Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

43 Fields will be bought in this land, about which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or animal. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’

44 Men will buy fields for money, sign the deeds, seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed,” says Yahweh.