CHAPTER 32

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah; this was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar:

2 And then the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the palace of the king of Judah;

3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why hast thou prophesied, saying, — “Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he wilt take it:

4 And Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans; for delivering I will deliver him into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;

5 And to Babylon will he bring Zedekiah, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Jehovah: when ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper.”

6 And Jeremiah said, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, —

7 Behold, Hanameel, the son of Shallum thine uncle, will come to thee and say, “Buy thee my field which is in Anathoth, for thine is the right of affinity to buy.”

8 And Hanameel, my uncle’s son, came to me, as Jehovah had spoken, into the court of the prison, and said, “Buy, I pray thee, my field which 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.” Then I knew that it was the word of Jehovah;

9 And I bought the field from Hanameel, my uncle’s son, who was in Anathoth, and I weighed money to him, seven shekels and ten pieces of silver:

10 When I had written in a book and sealed it, and had taken witnesses and weighed the money in a balance;

11 Then I took the book of the purchase, the sealed according to the law and statute, and the open;

12 And gave the book of the purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, before the eyes of Hanameel, my uncle’s son, and before the eyes of the witnesses who were written in the book of the purchase, and before the eyes of all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison;

13 And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying,

14 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Take these books, the book of purchase, the sealed and the open book, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue for many days;

15 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, They shall again buy houses and fields and vineyards in this land.

16 And I prayed to Jehovah, after I gave the book of the purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, saying, —

17 “Ah! Lord Jehovah! behold thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine extended arm;

18 There is nothing difficult for thee: thou shewest mercy to thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them:

19 God, strong, mighty! Jehovah of hosts is his name; great in counsel, mighty in work, whose eyes are open on all the ways of the children of men, to render to every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings;

20 Who hast wrought signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even to this day, and in Israel and among men; and hast made thyself a name as at this day;

21 And hast brought forth thy people Israel from the land of Egypt by signs and wonders, and with a strong hand and an extended arm, and with great terror;

22 And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;

23 And they entered in and possessed it, but they have not hearkened to thy voice nor walked in thy law; all that thou hast commanded them to do they have not done; therefore hast thou made all this evil to befall them.

24 “Behold, the mounts have come to the city to take it, and the city is given to the hand of the Chaldeans, who war against it by means of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence; and what thou hast spoken has happened; and behold thou seest it.

25 Yet thou, Lord Jehovah, hast said to me, Buy thee the field for money, and make witnesses to attest, when yet the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”

26 And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, —

27 Behold, I Jehovah, am the God of all flesh, Will anything be hard for me?

28 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold I give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take it;

29 And enter in shall the Chaldeans who war against the city, and shall set this city on fire and burn it, and the houses on the roofs of which they have burned incense to Baal, and poured out libations to alien gods, in order to provoke me.

30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have been only doing evil before me from their childhood; for the children of Israel have been only provoking me by the work of their hands, saith Jehovah.

31 For to provoke my wrath and my indignation has this city been to me from the day they built it to this day, to cause me to remove it from my presence,

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

33 For they turned to me the back and not the face; and when I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, they hearkened not so as to receive correction:

34 And they have set their abominations in the house on which my name is called, to pollute it;

35 And have built high places to Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass to Molech, which I commanded them not, nor did it come to my mind, to do this abomination so as to make Judah to sin.

36 And now, therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which ye say, “Given it is into the hand of the king of Babylon, by the sword, and famine, and pestilence;”

37 Behold I will gather them from all the lands to which I shall have driven them in my wrath, and fury, and great indignation, and will restore them to this land, and make them dwell in safety;

38 And they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God.

39 And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me continually, that it may be well with them and with their children after them;

40 And I will make with them a perpetual covenant, so as not to depart from them to do them good; and my fear will I put in their hearts, that they may not depart from me;

41 And I will rejoice over them in doing them good, and will plant them in this land in truth, with all my heart, and with all my soul.

42 For thus saith Jehovah, As I have brought on this people all this great evil, so will I bring on them all the good which I have declared concerning them:

43 And bought shall be fields in this land of which ye say, “Forsaken it is by man and beast, and given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”

44 Fields with money shall they buy, writing in a book and sealing, and attesting by witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and through the circuits of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in cities on the mountains, and in cities on the plains, and in the cities of the south; for I will restore their captivity, saith Jehovah.