Jeremiah 32
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah: that year was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
This is the Lord's message that came to Jeremiah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah's reign, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.
2 And the king of Babylon's army was then besieging Jerusalem; and the prophet Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house.
This was when the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the guard's courtyard, part of the king of Judah's palace.
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why dost thou prophesy and say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
Zedekiah king of Judah had put him in prison, telling him: “Why do you have to prophesy like this? You say the Lord is saying, ‘Look, I'm going to hand over this city to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans; for he shall certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
Zedekiah king of Judah won't escape from the Babylonians. He will be captured and taken to the king of Babylon to speak with him personally and see him face to face.
5 and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Jehovah: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?
He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he'll remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. You won't be successful if you fight against the Babylonians.’”
6 And Jeremiah said, The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah answered, “The Lord gave me a message, saying:
7 Behold, Hanameel, the son of Shallum thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, Buy for thyself my field which is in Anathoth; for thine is the right of redemption, to buy [it].
Your cousin Hanamel, son of Shallum, is coming to tell you, ‘Why don't you buy my field in Anathoth because you have the right to redeem it and buy it?’
8 And Hanameel, mine uncle's son, came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine: buy [it] for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah.
Just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel arrived to see me in the guard's courtyard and asked me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin because you have the right of family ownership to redeem it. You should buy it for yourself.’” This convinced me that this was a message from the Lord.
9 And I bought of Hanameel, mine uncle's son, the field which is in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, seventeen shekels of silver.
So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver to pay him.
10 And I subscribed the writing, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed the money in the balances.
I signed the deed and sealed it, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver using the scales.
11 And I took the writing of the purchase, that which was sealed [according to] the law and the statutes, and that which was open;
Then I took the deed of sale, both the sealed original containing the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy,
12 and I gave the writing of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Nerijah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's [son], and in the presence of the witnesses that had subscribed the writing of purchase, before all the Jews that were sitting in the court of the guard.
and handed them to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. I did this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of sale, and all the people of Judah who were sitting there in the guard's courtyard.
13 And I charged Baruch in their presence, saying,
I gave Baruch these instructions in front of them,
14 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these writings, this writing of the purchase, both that which is sealed and this writing which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may remain many days.
“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Put these deeds of sale, the sealed original and the open copy, in a clay jar so they can be kept safe for a long time.
15 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be purchased in this land.
For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: The time will come when once again houses, fields, and vineyards will be bought in this country.”
16 And after I had given the writing of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Nerijah, I prayed unto Jehovah saying,
After I had given the deed of sale to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:
17 Alas, Lord Jehovah! Behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm; there is nothing too hard for thee:
“Ah, Lord God! You created the heavens and the earth by your great strength and power. Nothing is too hard for you!
18 who shewest mercy unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them, thou, the great, the mighty God, — Jehovah of hosts is his name;
You give your trustworthy love to thousands, but you punish the sins of the fathers the consequences affect their children too., Great and powerful God whose name is the Lord Almighty,
19 great in counsel and mighty in work, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
you are the one who is supremely wise and who does incredible things. You watch what everyone does, and you reward them according to the way they live and what their actions deserve.
20 who hast displayed signs and wonders unto this day, in the land of Egypt and in Israel and among [other] men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day.
You carried out signs and miracles in Egypt, and you still do so today, both here in Israel and among all people everywhere. As a result you gained a great reputation, and this is still true today.
21 And thou broughtest forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt by signs, and by wonders, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terror;
You led your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and miracles, with your great power and strength that terrified people.
22 and didst give them this land, which thou hadst sworn unto their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
You gave them this land that you had promised to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
23 And they came in and possessed it: but they hearkened not unto thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do; so that thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them.
They came and took it over, but they didn't do what you said or follow your laws. They didn't do everything you ordered them to do, which is why you've brought all this disaster down on them.
24 Behold the mounds, they are come unto the city for taking it; and the city is given over into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, by the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and behold, thou seest [it].
Look at the siege ramps piled up against the city to capture it! Through war and famine and disease, the city will be taken by the Babylonians who are attacking it. You can see that everything you said would happen has happened.
25 And thou, Lord Jehovah, thou hast said unto me, Buy for thyself the field for money, and take witnesses; — and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Yet, Lord God, you have told me, ‘Buy yourself the field with silver in front of witnesses, even though the city has been handed over to the Babylonians!’”
26 And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying,
Then Lord gave Jeremiah this message:
27 Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?
Look! I am the Lord, the God of everyone. Is anything too hard for me to do?
28 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
So this is what the Lord says: Listen! I'm going to hand over this city to the king of Babylon and the Babylonians, and they will capture it.
29 And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come in and set fire to this city, and shall burn it, and the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink-offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.
The Babylonians who are attacking the city are going to come and set fire to it. They will burn it down, including the houses belonging to the people who made me angry by burning incense to Baal on their rooftops, and by pouring out drink offerings in worship of other gods.
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have been doing only evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Jehovah.
From their earliest days all the people of Israel and of Judah have ever done has been evil in my sight. In fact all they've even done is to make me angry through their actions, declares the Lord.
31 For this city hath been to me [a provocation] of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,
This city has been such a source of anger and frustration from the time it was built right up till now. So I'm going to get rid of it,
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, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
because of all the evil things the people of Israel and Judah did that made me angry—their kings, and officials, their priests and prophets, all of those living in Judah and Jerusalem, everyone
33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face; and though I taught them, rising early and teaching, they hearkened not to receive instruction.
They have turned their backs on me. They wouldn't even look at me. Even though I kept on trying to teach them, they refused to listen or accept instruction.
34 And they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it;
They have put their disgusting idols in my Temple, making it unclean.
35 and they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause to pass through [the fire] their sons and their daughters unto Molech: which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the Valley of Hinnom so they could sacrifice their sons and daughters by burning them in the fire. This is something I never commanded. I never even thought of such a thing—doing something so awful and making the people of Judah guilty of sin.
36 And now therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith thus concerning this city, whereof ye say, It hath been given over into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:
Now about this city. You are correctly saying, “It's going be handed over to the king of Babylon through war and famine and disease.” However, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries whither I have driven them, in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.
I promise to gather my people from all the lands where I exiled them because they made me so very angry. I will bring them back here and they will live in safety.
38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
They will be my people, and I will be their God.
39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me all [their] days, for the good of them, and of their children after them.
I will make sure they think the same way and act in harmony, so that they will always honor me so all will be good for them and their descendants.
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not draw back from them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their heart, that they may not turn aside from me.
I will make an everlasting agreement with them: I'm never going to stop doing them good and I will help them to respect me so that they won't ever abandon me.
41 And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
I will be delighted to treat them well, and I will commit myself with the whole of my being to helping them to grow as a nation in this land.
42 For thus saith Jehovah: Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have spoken concerning them.
This is what the Lord says: Just as certainly as I have brought this whole disaster down on my people, so I'm going to give to them all the good things I have promised.
43 And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Fields will once again be bought in this country that you're describing, saying, “It's been completely destroyed—no people or animals are left. It's been handed over to the Babylonians.”
44 [Men] shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the writings, and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south: for I will turn their captivity, saith Jehovah.
People will buy fields with silver again, deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen here in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in all the towns of Judah—including the towns of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev—because I will bring the people back from exile, declares the Lord.
