The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

⭑ Literal Standard Version 2020 ⭑

- Chapter 32 -

The word that has been to Jeremiah from YHWH in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah—it [is] the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar—

And then the forces of the king of Babylon are laying siege against Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet has been shut up in the court of the prison that [is] in the house of the king of Judah,

where Zedekiah king of Judah has shut him up, saying, “Why are you prophesying, saying, Thus said YHWH: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he has captured it;

and Zedekiah king of Judah does not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but is certainly given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and his mouth has spoken with his mouth, and his eyes see his eyes,

and he leads Zedekiah [to] Babylon, and there he is until My inspecting him—a declaration of YHWH—because you fight with the Chaldeans, you do not prosper.”

And Jeremiah says, “A word of YHWH has been to me, saying,

Behold, Hanameel son of Shallum, your uncle, is coming to you, saying, Buy my field that [is] in Anathoth for yourself, for the right of redemption [is] yours to buy.”

And Hanameel, my uncle’s son, comes to me, according to the word of YHWH, to the court of the prison, and says to me, “Please buy my field that [is] in Anathoth, that [is] in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession [is] yours, and redemption yours—buy [it] for yourself.” And I know that it [is] the word of YHWH,

and I buy the field that [is] in Anathoth from Hanameel, my uncle’s son, and I weigh the money to him—seventeen shekels of silver.

And I write in a scroll, and seal, and cause witnesses to testify, and weigh the silver in balances;

and I take the purchase scroll, the sealed one, according to law and custom, and the open one;

and I give the purchase scroll to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, before the eyes of Hanameel, my uncle’s son, and before the eyes of the witnesses, those writing in the purchase scroll, before the eyes of all the Jews who are sitting in the court of the prison.

And I charge Baruch before their eyes, saying,

“Thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: Take these scrolls, this purchase scroll, both the sealed one and the open one, and you have put them in an earthen vessel, that they may remain many days.

For thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards are bought in this land again.”

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

And I pray to YHWH after my giving the purchase scroll to Baruch son of Neriah, saying,

“Aah! Lord YHWH, behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power, and by Your outstretched arm; there is nothing too wonderful for You:

doing kindness to thousands, and repaying iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their sons after them; God, the great, the mighty, YHWH of Hosts [is] His Name;

great in counsel, and mighty in act, in that Your eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of Adam, to give to each according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings;

in that you have done signs and wonders in the land of Egypt to this day, and in Israel, and among men, and You make for Yourself a name as [at] this day.

And You bring forth Your people Israel from the land of Egypt, with signs and with wonders, and by a strong hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great fear,

and you give to them this land that you swore to their fathers to give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey,

and they come in, and possess it, and they have not listened to Your voice, and have not walked in Your law, all that which You laid a charge on them to do they have not done, and You proclaim all this calamity [to] them.

Behold, the [siege] mounds have come to the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence; and that which You have spoken has come to pass, and behold, You are seeing.

Yet You have said to me, O Lord YHWH, Buy the field for yourself with money, and cause witnesses to testify—and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans!”

The LORD Answers Jeremiah

And the word of YHWH is to Jeremiah, saying,

“Behold, I [am] YHWH, God of all flesh: is anything too wonderful for Me?”

Therefore, thus said YHWH: “Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he has captured it.

And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city have come in, and they have set this city on fire, and have burned it—and the houses on whose roofs they made incense to Ba‘al, and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger.

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My eyes from their youth; for the sons of Israel are surely provoking Me with the work of their hands,” a declaration of YHWH.

“For this city has been a cause of My anger and a cause of My fury, even from the day that they built it, and to this day—to turn it aside from before My face,

because of all the evil of the sons of Israel, and of the sons of Judah that they have done, so as to provoke Me—they, their kings, their heads, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And they turn the neck to Me, and not the face, and teaching them, rising early and teaching, and they are not listening to accept instruction.

And they set their abominations in the house over which My Name is called, so as to defile it.

And they build the high places of Ba‘al that [are] in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come up on My heart to do this abomination, so as to cause Judah to sin.

A Promise of Restoration

(Ezekiel 11:13–21)

And now, therefore, thus said YHWH, God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you are saying, It has been given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, and by famine, and by pestilence:

Behold, I am gathering them out of all the lands to where I have driven them in My anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath, and I have brought them back to this place, and have caused them to dwell confidently;

and they have been to Me for a people, and I am to them for God;

and I have given to them one heart and one way, to fear Me all the days, for the good of them and their sons after them:

and I have made a perpetual covenant for them, in that I do not turn back from after them for My doing them good, and I put My fear in their heart, so as not to turn aside from me;

and I have rejoiced over them to do them good, and have planted them in this land in truth, with all my heart, and with all My soul.”

For thus said YHWH: “As I brought to this people all this great calamity, so I am bringing on them all the good that I am speaking concerning them;

and the field has been bought in this land of which you are saying, It [is] a desolation, without man and beast, it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

They buy fields with money, so as to write in a scroll, and to seal, and to cause witnesses to testify, in the land of Benjamin, and in outskirts of Jerusalem, and in cities of Judah, and in cities of the hill-country, and in cities of the low country, and in cities of the south, for I return their captivity,” a declaration of YHWH.