Jeremiah 32:1-44

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, “Behold, I am YAHWEH, God of all the world. Nothing is impossible with me. Therefore, I say to you, I will hand Jerusalem over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar the king, and he will conquer it. The attacking army of Babylon will seize this city, set it on fire, and burn it to the ground. The people offered sacrifices to Baal on those same rooftops and poured out drink offerings to other idols, provoking my anger. From their earliest history, the people of Israel and Judah alike have done evil in my presence. In fact, the people of Israel have done nothing but make me angry by their actions, declares YAHWEH. From the day they built this city, these people have made me angry and furious. Therefore, I will destroy it because of all the wickedness of the people of Israel and Judah. They have all provoked my anger, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, the people of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned their backs to me and not their faces. Even though I taught them so untiringly over and over, they would not listen or accept correction. Instead, they have defiled the house that bears my name by placing their detestable idols inside it. And in the Valley of Hinnom, they have built shrines to Baal. They have sacrificed their little sons and daughters to Molech in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it ever enter my thoughts!” YAHWEH, God of Israel, says, “You say that because of war, plague, and food shortages that Jerusalem will fall and be handed over to the king of Babylon, but this is what YAHWEH, the God of Israel, says: I will graciously regather the people of Jerusalem although I was previously filled with anger and scattered them in foreign countries by my great indignation. Yes, I will bring them back to this place, and they will live under my protection. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one single purpose and one wonderful way to live so that they will always honor me, for their own good and for the good of their descendants. I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will never stop doing good things for them. I will inspire them to honor and respect me so that they will never walk away from me again. What delight I will have in doing good things for them! With all my heart and soul, I promise that they will be planted firmly in this land once again. “For YAHWEH promises: Just as I have brought great disaster on the people, I will someday do all these great things for them. People will again buy fields in this land that you call a wasteland without men or animals. I have given it over to the Babylonians. Yes, people will pay cash for property, draw up deeds, seal them, and have them witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, throughout the villages around Jerusalem, the towns of Judah, the highlands, the western foothills, and the southern desert. For I will restore what was lost and bring the captives back to their land,” declares YAHWEH.