Jeremiah 32

Revised Geneva Translation

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 Nebuchadnezzar.

² For then, the king of Babel’s host besieged Jerusalem. And Jeremiah the Prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.

³ For Zedekiah, king of Judah, had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will give this city into the hands of the king of Babel, and he shall take it.

⁴ “And Zedekiah, the king of Judah, shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hands of the king of Babel, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth. And his eyes shall behold his face,

⁵ “And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babel. And there he shall be until I visit him,” says the LORD. “Though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper.”’?”

⁶ And Jeremiah said, “The Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁷ “Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your uncle, shall come to you and say, ‘Buy my field for yourself, which is in Anathoth. For the right of redemption is yours, to buy it.’

⁸ “So Hanamel, my uncle’s son, came to me in the court of the prison, according to the Word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field which is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin. For the right of the possession is yours, and the purchase yours. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the Word of the LORD.

⁹ “And I bought the field from Hanamel, my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and measured out to him the silver: seventeen shekels.

¹⁰ “And I wrote it in the book and signed it, and took witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.

¹¹ “So I took the deed of purchase, being sealed according to the Law and custom, with the deed that was open.

¹² “And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel, my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses written in the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.

¹³ “And I charged Baruch before them, saying,

¹⁴ ‘Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Take the writings, this deed of purchase that is sealed and the deed that is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, so that they may last a long time.”

¹⁵ ‘For the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says thus: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.”’

¹⁶ “Now when I had delivered the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying,

¹⁷ ‘Ah, LORD God, behold. You have made the heaven and the earth by Your great power, and by Your outstretched Arm. And there is nothing hard for You.

¹⁸ ‘You show mercy to thousands and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. O, God! The great and mighty! Whose Name is the LORD of Hosts,

¹⁹ ‘great in counsel and mighty in work, (for Your Eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works)

²⁰ ‘Who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt to this day and in Israel and among all men and has made Yourself a Name, as it is this day,

²¹ ‘and has brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and an outstretched Arm, and with great terror.

²² ‘And You have given them this land which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land that flows with milk and honey.

²³ ‘And they came in and possessed it. But they did not obey Your Voice or walk in Your Law. All that You Commanded them to do, they have not done. Therefore, You have caused this whole plague to come upon them.

²⁴ ‘Behold the siege mounts. They have come into the city, to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, who fight against it by means of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence. And what You have spoken has come to pass. And behold, You see it.

²⁵ ‘And You have said to me, O LORD God: “Buy the field for silver, and take witnesses.” For the city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’”

²⁶ Then came the Word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying:

²⁷ “Behold, I am the LORD, God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?”

²⁸ Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel. And he shall take it.

²⁹ “And the Chaldeans shall come and fight against this city and set fire to this city and burn it with the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger.

³⁰ “For the children of Israel, and the children of Judah, have surely done evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have surely provoked Me to anger with the works of their hands,” says the LORD.

³¹ “Therefore this city has been to Me as a provocation of My anger, and of My wrath, from the day that they built it until this day, so that I should remove it out of My sight

³² “because of all the evil of the children of Israel, and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger — they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their Prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³ “And they have turned the back to Me and not the face. Though I taught them, rising up early and instructing them, still they were not obedient to receive doctrine.

³⁴ “But they set their abominations in the House upon which My Name was called, to defile it.

³⁵ “And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them. Nor did it come into My mind that they should do such abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

³⁶ “And now, therefore, thus has the LORD God of Israel spoken concerning this city, of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babel by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.’

³⁷ “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries to which I have scattered them in My anger, and in My wrath, and in great indignation. And I will bring them back to this place. And I will cause them to dwell safely.

³⁸ “And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

³⁹ “And I will give them one heart and one way, so that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and of their children after them.

⁴⁰ “And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them: that I will never turn away from them to do them good. But I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they shall not depart from Me.

⁴¹ “Yea, I will delight in them, to do them good. And I will assuredly plant them in this land with My whole Heart, and with all My Soul.

⁴² “For thus says the LORD: ‘Just as I have brought all this great plague upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.

⁴³ “And the fields shall be possessed in this land of which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or beast, and shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’

⁴⁴ “Men shall buy fields for silver, and make writings and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and all around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the South. For I will cause their captivity to return,’ says the LORD.”