Jeremiah 32

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

Thus said the Lord God of Israel; Take the cup of this unmixed wine from mine hand, and thou shalt cause all the nations to drink, to whom I send thee.

2 Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house.

3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, "Why do you prophesy, and say, 'Thus says the LORD, "Look, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;

4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes;

5 and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he shall be there until I visit him," says the LORD: "though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper?"'"

6 Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

7 'Look, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, "Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it."'

8 So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, "Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

9 I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

10 I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.

11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open;

12 and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, and in the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.

13 I commanded Baruch before them, saying,

14 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days."'

15 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land.'

16 Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying,

And they shall drink, and vomit, and be mad, because of the sword which I send among them.

17 'Ah, LORD. Look, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; there is nothing too difficult for you,

So I took the cup out of the Lord's hand, and caused the nations to whom the Lord sent me to drink:

18 who show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts is his name;

Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings of Juda, and his princes, to make them a desert place, a desolation, and a hissing;

19 great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open on all the ways of human beings, to give to each person according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

and Pharao king of Egypt, and his servants, and his nobles, and all his people;

20 You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all humankind, and have made a name for yourself to this day.

and all the mingled [people], and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ascalon, and Gaza, and Accaron, and the remnant of Azotus,

21 You brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror;

and Idumea, and the land of Moab, and the children of Ammon,

22 and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;

and the kings of Tyre, and the kings of Sidon, and the kings in the [country] beyond the sea,

23 and they came in, and possessed it, but they did not obey your voice, neither walked in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come on them.

and Daedan, and Thaeman, and Ros, and every one that is shaved round about the face,

24 Look, the mounds, they have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what you have spoken has happened; and look, you see it.

and all the mingled [people] lodging in the wilderness,

25 You have said to me, Lord GOD, "Buy the field for money, and call witnesses"; whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

and all the kings of Aelam, and all the kings of the Persians,

26 Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying,

and all the kings from the north, the far and the near, each one with his brother, and all the kingdoms which are on the face of the earth.

27 "Look, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too difficult for me?

And thou shalt say to them, Thus said the Lord Almighty; Drink ye, be ye drunken; and ye shall vomit, and shall fall, and shall in nowise rise, because of the sword which I send among you.

28 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Look, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:

And it shall come to pass, when they refuse to take the cup out of thine hand, to drink it, that thou shalt say, Thus said the Lord; Ye shall surely drink.

29 and the Chaldeans, who fight against this city, shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses, on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

For I am beginning to afflict the city whereon my name is called, and ye shall by no means be held guiltless: for I am calling a sword upon all that dwell upon the earth.

30 For the children of Israel and the people of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD.

And thou shalt prophesy against them these words, and shalt say, The Lord shall speak from on high, from his sanctuary he will utter his voice; he will pronounce a declaration on his place; and these shall answer like men gathering grapes: and destruction is coming on them that dwell on the earth,

31 For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

[even] upon [the extreme] part of the earth; for the Lord [has] a controversy with the nations, he is pleading with all flesh, and the ungodly are given to the sword, saith the Lord.

32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the people of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Thus said the Lord; Behold, evils are proceeding from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind goes forth from the end of the earth.

33 They have turned to me the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.

And the slain of the Lord shall be in the day of the Lord from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth.

34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and lament, ye rams of the flock: for your days have been completed for slaughter, and ye shall fall as the choice rams.

35 They built the high places of Baal, which are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through fire to Molech; which I did not command them, neither did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.'

And flight shall perish from the shepherds, and safety from the rams of the flock.

36 "Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, about which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence':

A voice of the crying of the shepherds, and a moaning of the sheep and the rams: for the Lord has destroyed their pastures.

37 'Look, I will gather them out of all the countries, where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:

And the peaceable abodes that remain shall be destroyed before the fierceness of my anger.

38 and they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

He has forsaken his lair, as a lion: for their land is become desolate before the great sword.

39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good, and of their children after them:

40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.

41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.'

42 "For thus says the LORD: 'Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so will I bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

43 Fields shall be bought in this land, about which you say, "It is desolate, without man or animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans."

44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call 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 lowland, and in the cities of the Negev: for I will cause their captivity to return,' says the LORD."