Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah Is Imprisoned

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the house of the king of Judah. 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it; 4and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and speak with him mouth to mouth and see him eye to eye; 5and he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will remain until I attend to him, says the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed’?”

Jeremiah Buys a Field

6Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 7‘Look, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, “Buy for yourself my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption to buy it belongs to you.”’ 8Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is at Anathoth 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 the word of the LORD. 9So I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin and weighed out the silver to him: seventeen shekels of silver. 10I wrote the deed, sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the silver on scales. 11Then I took the deed of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy, 12and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my cousin, in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the sight of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. 13I commanded Baruch in their sight, saying, 14‘Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthen jar so that they may last many days. 15For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays

16After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: 17“Ah, Lord GOD! Look, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm. Nothing is too wonderful for you. 18You show steadfast love to thousands, but repay the guilt of fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, 19great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of human beings, giving to each according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20You set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among humanity, and you made for yourself a name as it is this day. 21You brought your people Israel out from the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror. 22You gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23They entered and possessed it, but they did not listen to your voice or walk in your instruction. They did nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore you caused all this disaster to meet them. 24Look, the siege ramps have come to the city to capture it, and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it because of sword, famine, and plague. What you spoke has happened, and look, you see it. 25Yet you, Lord GOD, said to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and call witnesses,’ though the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans!”

Nothing Is Too Wonderful for the LORD

26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 27“Look, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too wonderful for me? 28Therefore thus says the LORD: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 29The Chaldeans who fight against this city will come and set this city on fire and burn it, along with the houses upon whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. 30For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil in my eyes from their youth. Indeed, the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger by the work of their hands,” says the LORD. 31“For this city has been to me a cause of anger and fury from the day they built it to this day, so that I will remove it from before my face, 32because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33They turned to me the back and not the face. Though I taught them, rising early and teaching, they did not listen to receive discipline. 34They put their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 35They built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it enter my heart that they should do this abomination, causing Judah to sin.

Fields Will Again Be Bought

36“And now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and plague’: 37Look, I will gather them from all the lands where I drove them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell securely. 38They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me all their days, for their good and for the good of their children after them. 40I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from me. 41I will rejoice over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and with all my life. 42For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I am speaking concerning them. 43Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is desolate, without human or animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ 44They will buy fields with silver, write deeds, seal them, and call witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the foothills, and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes,” says the LORD.