1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah. That was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was laying siege to Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah.
3Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up there. He said, "Why do you prophesy and say, 'This is what the LORD says: Look, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;"
4and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans. He will surely be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes;
5"and he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will stay until I come to him, says the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed'?"
6And Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me:"
7"Look, Hanameel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, 'Buy my field that is in Anathoth for yourself, for you are the near relative, and the right to buy it back is yours.'"
8So Hanameel, my uncle's son, came to me in the court of the prison, just as the LORD had said. He said to me, "Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, in the country of Benjamin. The right of inheritance is yours, and the right to buy it back 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 Hanameel my uncle's son, and I weighed out the money for him, seventeen shekels of silver.
10I signed the deed and sealed it, and I called witnesses, and weighed out the money for him on the scales.
11So I took the deed of purchase, both the copy that was sealed, following the law and the custom, and the copy that was open.
12And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah. I did this while Hanameel my uncle's son watched, and in front of the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and in front of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the prison.
13And I gave Baruch this command in front of them all:
14"This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Take these deeds, this deed of purchase which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in a clay jar, so that they may last for many days.'"
15"For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Houses and fields and vineyards will be owned again in this land.'"
16Now when I had handed the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD:
17"Ah, Lord GOD! Look, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you."
18"You show lovingkindness to thousands, and you repay the sin of the fathers into the laps of their children after them. The Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts is his name."
19"You are great in counsel and mighty in work. Your eyes are open to all the ways of people, to give to each one according to his ways and according to what his deeds deserve."
20"You did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and you still do them to this day, both in Israel and among other people. So you have made yourself a name, as it is today."
21"You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror."
22"And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers that you would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey."
23"They came in and took it for their own, but they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded them to do. So you have brought all this disaster upon them."
24"Look at the siege mounds. They have reached the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword and the famine and the plague. What you said has happened, and look, you see it."
25"Yet you have said to me, O Lord GOD, 'Buy the field for money and call witnesses' - and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans."
26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
27"Look, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?"
28"So this is what the LORD says: Look, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it."
29"And the Chaldeans who fight against this city will come and set it on fire and burn it, together with the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to make me angry."
30"For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have only made me angry with the work of their hands, says the LORD."
31"This city has stirred up my anger and my fury from the day they built it until this day, so that I must remove it from before my face,"
32"because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to make me angry - they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the people living in Jerusalem."
33"They have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. I taught them, rising up early to teach them, yet they would not listen or take instruction."
34"They set up their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name, and made it unclean."
35"They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to Molech. I never commanded this, and it never came into my mind that they should do this detestable thing and make Judah sin."
36"And now, therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about this city, of which you say, 'It will be handed over to the king of Babylon by the sword, by famine and by plague':"
37"Look, I will gather them out of all the countries where I drove them in my anger and my fury and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them live in safety."
38"They will be my people, and I will be their God."
39"I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will fear me for ever, for their own good and for the good of their children after them."
40"I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will not turn away from doing them good, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from me."
41"Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will surely plant them in this land, with all my heart and with all my soul."
42"For this is what the LORD says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them."
43"And fields will be bought in this land, of which you say, 'It is a waste, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"
44"People will buy fields for money, and sign deeds, and 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 lowland, and in the cities of the south. For I will bring them back from captivity, says the LORD."