YAHWEH spoke to me in the tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign in Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. At that time, the Babylonian army was attacking Jerusalem, and I was confined in the king’s palace guardhouse. King Zedekiah had imprisoned me because I had prophesied YAHWEH’s message: “I am YAHWEH, and I am about to let the king of Babylonia conquer Jerusalem. King Zedekiah will not escape but will be captured and taken to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who will see him face-to-face and speak with him in person. Then Zedekiah will be taken captive to Babylon, where he will remain until I am finished with him. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed. For I, YAHWEH, have decreed it.”
Then YAHWEH spoke to me and said, “Your cousin Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you and say: ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to purchase it.’ ” And it happened just as YAHWEH had said. My cousin Hanamel came to me in the palace guardhouse and said, “Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. As my nearest relative, you have the right of possession and redemption, so buy it.” Then I knew that this was YAHWEH’s plan.
So I bought the field from my cousin Hanamel at Anathoth and weighed out the purchase price to him of seventeen silver shekels. I signed the deed and sealed it, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. Then I took both the sealed deed of purchase (with the price and conditions of the sale) and the unsealed copy, and I handed them over to Baruch son of Neriah, grandson of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel. The witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase and all the people who happened to be in the palace guardhouse were gathered there. In their presence, I gave Baruch the order, “YAHWEH, God of Israel, Commander of Angel Armies, says: ‘Take the sealed deed of purchase and its open copy and secure them in a clay pot so that they may be preserved for a long time.’ For YAHWEH, God of Israel, Commander of Angel Armies, says: ‘People will once again buy houses, fields, and vineyards in this land.’ ”
After I had entrusted the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed: “Lord YAHWEH, you stretched out your mighty arm and created the heavens and the earth by your awesome power. Nothing is impossible with you! You show your loyal, tender love to thousands and thousands. But you also repay the guilt of fathers upon their children. You are the great and mighty God, whose name is YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. You surpass all with your wise counsel and wise planning. Your miracles reveal your mighty power. Your eyes see everything people do, and you repay each one according to what their ways and actions deserve. You performed signs and wonders in Egypt as you still do in Israel even to this day. Your name is famous yesterday, today, and forever. Your signs and wonders in Egypt resulted in rescuing your people Israel. You stretched out your mighty hand and bared your omnipotent arm and terrifying power. Then you gave them this land that you had promised their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. But when they entered and took possession of it, they would neither listen to your voice nor follow your law. They would do nothing you commanded them to do, so you brought this disaster on them. Look! The Babylonians have already set up siege ramps to take the city! Jerusalem is now within their clutches. The people will suffer from war, food shortages, and disease when they attack the city. What you prophesied has now come true, as you see. Yet you, Lord YAHWEH, are the one who told me: ‘Buy the field, pay for it, and get witnesses,’ even though the Babylonians are about to capture the city.”
The word of YAHWEH came to me, saying
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