Jeremiah 32:1-19

Amplified Bible

Jeremiah Imprisoned

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of ^[a]Nebuchadnezzar. ² Now at 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, which was in the house of the king of Judah. ³ For Zedekiah [the last] king of Judah had locked him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy [disaster] and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴ and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the ^[b]Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; ⁵ and he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him [for evaluation and judgment],” says the Lord. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed”’?”^(A)

⁶ And Jeremiah [answered King Zedekiah and] said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Behold (listen carefully), Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, “Buy my field that is in ^[c]Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it [in accordance with the law].”’ ⁸ Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard in accordance with the word of the Lord, and he said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for you have the right of inheritance and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹ “I bought the field that was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and weighed out the money for him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed and sealed it, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the money on the scales. ¹¹ So I took the deeds of the purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy; ¹² and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and in sight of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³ And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this unsealed deed, and put them in an earthen jar, that they may last a long time.” ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be purchased in this land.”’

Jeremiah Prays and God Explains

¹⁶ “Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying, ¹⁷ ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too difficult or too wonderful for You— ¹⁸ You who show lovingkindness to thousands, but repay the wickedness (sin, guilt) of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], O great and mighty God; the Lord of hosts is His name; ¹⁹ great [are You] in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to reward or repay each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;