Chapter 32

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was round Jerusalem, shutting it in: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the place of the armed watchmen, in the house of the king of Judah.

For Zedekiah, king of Judah, had had him shut up, saying, Why have you, as a prophet, been saying, The Lord has said, See, I will give this town into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;

And Zedekiah, king of Judah, will not get away from the hands of the Chaldaeans, but will certainly be given up into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will have talk with him, mouth to mouth, and see him, eye to eye.

And he will take Zedekiah away to Babylon, where he will be till I have pity on him, says the Lord: though you are fighting with the Chaldaeans, things will not go well for you?

And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

See, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your father's brother, will come to you and say, Give the price and get for yourself my property in Anathoth: for you have the right of the nearest relation.

So Hanamel, the son of my father's brother, came to me, as the Lord had said, to the place of the armed watchmen, and said to me, Give the price and get my property which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: for you have the nearest relation's right to the heritage; so get it for yourself. Then it was clear to me that this was the word of the Lord.

So I got for a price the property in Anathoth from Hanamel, the son of my father's brother, and gave him the money, seventeen shekels of silver;

And I put it in writing, stamping it with my stamp, and I took witnesses and put the money into the scales.

So I took the paper witnessing the business, one copy rolled up and stamped, and one copy open:

And I gave the paper to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, before the eyes of Hanamel, the son of my father's brother, and of the witnesses who had put their names to the paper, and before all the Jews who were seated in the place of the armed watchmen.

And I gave orders to Baruch in front of them, saying,

This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Take these papers, the witness of this business, the one which is rolled up and stamped, and the one which is open; and put them in a vessel of earth so that they may be kept for a long time.

For the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, There will again be trading in houses and fields and vine-gardens in this land.

Now after I had given the paper to Baruch, the son of Neriah, I made my prayer to the Lord, saying,

Ah Lord God! see, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm, and there is nothing you are not able to do:

You have mercy on thousands, and send punishment for the evil-doing of the fathers on their children after them: the great, the strong God, the Lord of armies is his name:

Great in wisdom and strong in act: whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone the reward of his ways and the fruit of his doings:

You have done signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day, in Israel and among other men; and have made a name for yourself as at this day;

And have taken your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, causing great fear;

And have given them this land, which you gave your word to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;

And they came in and took it for their heritage, but they did not give ear to your voice, and were not ruled by your law; they have done nothing of all you gave them orders to do: so you have made all this evil come on them:

See, they have made earthworks against the town to take it; and the town is given into the hands of the Chaldaeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword and need of food and disease: and what you have said has taken place, and truly you see it.

And you have said to me, Give the money to get yourself a property, and have the business witnessed; though the town is given into the hands of the Chaldaeans.

And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

See, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything so hard that I am unable to do it?

So this is what the Lord has said: See, I am giving this town into the hands of the Chaldaeans and into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will take it:

And the Chaldaeans, who are fighting against this town, will come and put the town on fire, burning it together with the houses, on the roofs of which perfumes have been burned to the Baal, and drink offerings have been drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath.

For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my eyes from their earliest years: the children of Israel have only made me angry with the work of their hands, says the Lord.

For this town has been to me a cause of wrath and of burning passion from the day of its building till this day, so that I put it away from before my face:

Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to make me angry, they and their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem.

And they have been turning their backs and not their faces to me: and though I was their teacher, getting up early and teaching them, their ears were not open to teaching.

But they put their disgusting images into the house which is named by my name, making it unclean.

And they put up the high places of the Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, making their sons and their daughters go through the fire to Molech; which I did not give them orders to do, and it never came into my mind that they would do this disgusting thing, causing Judah to be turned out of the way.

And now the Lord, the God of Israel, has said of this town, about which you say, It is given into the hands of the king of Babylon by the sword and by need of food and by disease:

See, I will get them together from all the countries where I have sent them in my wrath and in the heat of my passion and in my bitter feeling; and I will let them come back into this place where they may take their rest safely.

And they will be my people, and I will be their God:

And I will give them one heart and one way, so that they may go on in the worship of me for ever, for their good and the good of their children after them:

And I will make an eternal agreement with them, that I will never give them up, but ever do them good; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not go away from me.

And truly, I will take pleasure in doing them good, and all my heart and soul will be given to planting them in this land in good faith.

For the Lord has said: As I have made all this great evil come on this people, so I will send on them all the good which I said about them.

And there will be trading in fields in this land of which you say, It is a waste, without man or beast; it is given into the hands of the Chaldaeans.

Men will get fields for money, and put the business in writing, stamping the papers and having them witnessed, in the land of Benjamin and in the country round Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill-country and in the towns of the lowland and in the towns of the South: for I will let their fate be changed, says the Lord.