1The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
2And at that time the army of the king of Babylon was laying siege to Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah.
3For Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, “Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
4and Zedekiah, the king of Judah, shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldaeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
5and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Jehovah; though ye fight with the Chaldaeans, ye shall not prosper?”
6Then said Jeremiah, The word of Jehovah came to me, and said:
7Behold, 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 redemption-right to buy it.
8And so Hanameel, the son of my uncle, came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of Jehovah, and said to me: Buy, I pray thee, my field, which is in Anathoth, for thine is the right of inheritance and redemption; buy it for thyself! Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah.
9I bought, therefore, the field of Hanameel, my uncle's son, in Anathoth, and I paid him the money, seventeen shekels of silver.
10And I wrote a deed, and sealed it, and took witnesses thereto, and weighed the silver in the balances.
11And I took the purchase-deed, that which was sealed according to the law and the statutes, and that which was open,
12and I gave the purchase-deed to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the presence of Hanameel, my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses, who subscribed their names to the purchase-deed, and in the presence of all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.
13And I charged Baruch in their presence, saying,
14Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these writings, this sealed purchase-deed, and this open deed, and put them into an earthen vessel, that they may endure a great length of time.
15For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Yet again shall houses and fields and vineyards be bought in this land.
16And when I had delivered the purchase-deed to Baruch, the son of Neriah, I prayed to Jehovah, saying,
17Ah, Lord, Jehovah! Behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and thy stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.
18Thou showest kindness to a thousand generations, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of the children who come after them. The great, the mighty God, Jehovah of hosts is his name,
19great in counsel and mighty in work; for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings;
20who hast displayed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even to this day, and in Israel, and among other men, and hast made thee a name, as at this day;
21and hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with great terror,
22and hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
23and they have come in and possessed it; but they have not obeyed thy voice, nor walked according to thy law. They have done nothing of all which thou commandedst them to do. Therefore hast thou caused all this evil to come upon them.
24Behold, the mounds of the enemy have already come up against the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldaeans, who fight against it by means of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what thou hast spoken is come to pass, and, behold, thou seest it.
25And yet hast thou said to me, O Lord Jehovah, “Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses thereto!” when the city is given into the hand of the Chaldaeans.
26Then came the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah, saying:
27Behold, I, Jehovah, am the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?
28Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldaeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
29And the Chaldaeans who fight against this city shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out incense to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
30For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil before me from their youth; yea, the children of Israel have but provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Jehovah.
31For this city hath been the object of my anger and my fury, from the day when they built it even to this day; that I might remove it from before my face,
32because of all the wickedness of the children of Israel, and of the children of Judah, which they have committed to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33For they have turned to me the back, and not the face; though I have taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet have they not hearkened to receive instruction.
34And they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
35And they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Moloch, which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should practise their abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36Yet now thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel concerning this city, of which ye say, “It is delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
37Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries whither I have driven them in my anger and my fury and my great wrath, and I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell securely,
38and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
39And I will give them one heart, and one way, to fear me continually, that it may be well with them, and with their children after them.
40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, nor cease to do them good; for I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
41Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in truth, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.
42For thus saith Jehovah: As I have brought upon this people all this great evil, so will I bring upon them all the good which I have promised them.
43And fields shall yet be bought in this land, of which ye say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldaeans.”
44Fields shall men buy for money, and subscribe deeds, and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south; for I will bring them back from their captivity, saith Jehovah.