Jeremiah 32
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, —the same, was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar;
After Zedekiah had been ruling Judah for almost ten years, Yahweh gave me another message, during the time that Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling [Babylonia] for almost 18 years.
2 and, then, the forces of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem, —and, Jeremiah the prophet, had been shut up in the guard-court, which was in the house of the king of Judah;
His army was surrounding Jerusalem, and I was in a prison area in the courtyard where the guards of the king’s palace stayed.
3 whom Zedekiah king of Judah, had shut up, saying, —Why art thou prophesying, saying, —Thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! giving up this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
King Zedekiah had put me there. I continued to prophesy there [about what would happen]. I continued to say, “Yahweh says that he is about to allow [the army of] the king of Babylon to capture this city [DOU].
4 and, Zedekiah king of Judah! shall not be delivered out of the hand of the Chaldeans, —for he shall be wholly given up, into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak—the mouth of the one to the mouth of the other, and the eyes of the one into the eyes of the other, shall look;
And the soldiers of Babylonia will capture King Zedekiah and (take him to/put him in the hands of) the king of Babylon.
5 and into Babylon, shall he lead Zedekiah and, there, shall he remain, until I visit him, Declareth Yahweh, —though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?
Then his [soldiers] will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will remain there until I arrange for him to be punished. And if he tries to fight against the soldiers from Babylonia, he will not succeed.”
6 And Jeremiah said, —The word of Yahweh came unto me saying:
[At that time], Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
7 Lo! Hanameel son of Shallum thine uncle, hath come unto thee saying, —Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth, for, thine, is the right of redemption to buy it.
“[Your cousin] Hanamel, the son of Shallum [your uncle], will come to you. He will say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, [your hometown]. [Because you are my closest relative], [it is written in our laws that] you have the right to buy it [before I ask if anyone else wants to buy it].’”
8 So Hanameel son of mine uncle, came unto me, according to the word of Yahweh into the guard-court, and said unto me, Buy, I pray thee my field that is in Anathoth which is in the land of Benjamin, for, thine, is the right of inheritance, and, thine, the redemption, —buy it for thyself. So I knew, that the word of Yahweh, it was.
And just as Yahweh had predicted, my cousin Hanamel came to see me in the courtyard of the palace. He said, “[Please] buy my field at Anathoth in the area [where the descendants of] Benjamin live. It is written in our laws that you have the right to buy it [before I ask if anyone else wants to buy it.]” When he said that, I knew that the message that I had received was [truly] from Yahweh.
9 And I bought the field from Hanameel son of mine uncle that was in Anathoth, —and weighed him the silver, seventeen shekels, was the silver;
[So], I bought the field at Anathoth. I paid Hanamel 17 pieces of silver for it.
10 and I wrote in the scroll and sealed it, and took in attestation witnesses, —and weighed the silver in the balances.
I signed the paper/papyrus on which it was written that I was buying it, while others were watching/witnessing it. Then I weighed the silver [and gave it to him].
11 Then took I the scroll of purchase, both that which was sealed—the title and the conditions—and that which was open;
Then I took two copies of the paper/papyrus. One was sealed and the other was not sealed. On both of them was written the price and conditions of the purchase. I took both copies
12 and gave the scroll of purchase unto Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle[’s son], and in the sight of the witnesses who subscribed the scroll of purchase, —in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the guard-court.
and I gave them to Baruch, who was the son of Neraiah and the grandson of Mahseiah. I did this while my cousin Hanamel, the [other] witnesses who had signed the paper/papyrus, and other men of Judah who were there in the courtyard, were watching.
13 Then charged I Baruch in their sight saying:
[Then], while they were [all] listening, I said to Baruch,
14 Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Take thou these scrolls, this scroll of purchase even that which is sealed, and this scroll that is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, —that they may remain many days,
“This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says: ‘Take both copies of this paper/papyrus and put them in a clay jar, to preserve them for a long time.
15 For Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel: Again, shall houses and fields and vineyards, be bought, in this land.
[Do that] because this is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [worship], say: “[Some day people will again own property] in this land, and they will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”
16 Then prayed I unto Yahweh, —after I had delivered the scroll of purchase unto Baruch son of Neriah, saying: —
After I had given the papers/papyri to Baruch, I prayed to Yahweh, saying this:
17 Alas! My Lord, Yahweh! Lo! thou thyself, didst make the heavens, and the earth, by thy great might, and by thine outstretched arm, —There is nothing, too wonderful for thee:
“Yahweh, [you are my] Lord! You made the sky and the earth by your very great power. [MTY, DOU] Nothing is too difficult for you [to do].
18 Executing lovingkindness unto thousands, But recompensing the iniquity of fathers, into the bosom of their children, after them, Thou GOD, the great the mighty, Yahweh of hosts, is his name:
You show thousands of people that you faithfully love them, but you punish people for the sins that their parents have committed. [You are the] great and powerful God, the Commander of the armies of angels.
19 Great in counsel, and mighty in deed, —Whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give unto every one, According to his ways, and According to the fruit of his doings:
You make wise plans and you do mighty deeds. You see how all people behave [DOU], and you do to them what they deserve.
20 Who didst set signs and wonders, in the land of Egypt, unto this day, and in Israel and among mankind, —And didst make for thyself a name as at this day;
You performed many miracles [DOU] in Egypt, and you continue [to perform miracles here] in Israel and everywhere else in the world. [Because of that], you have (become very famous/caused many people to know that you are very great/powerful).
21 And didst bring forth thy 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;
You brought our Israeli ancestors out of Egypt by performing many great miracles [DOU], using your very great power [DOU], causing [our enemies to be] terrified.
22 And didst give unto them this land, which thou hadst sworn to their fathers to give unto them, —a land flowing with milk and honey;
You gave to us Israeli people this land that you solemnly promised to give to our ancestors, a land that is very fertile [IDM].
23 And they came in and took possession of it But hearkened not unto thy voice Nor in thy law, did they walk, Nought of what thou hadst commanded them to do, did they do, —And so thou hast caused to befall them all this calamity.
Our ancestors came here and conquered this land and started to live in it, but they refused to obey you or to do what you commanded them to do. Because of that, you have caused us to experience all these disasters.
24 Lo! the earthworks! they have entered the city, to capture it, And the city, hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans, who are fighting against it, because of the sword and the famine and the pestilence, —And so what thou didst speak, hath come to pass, And there thou art looking on!
And now, [the army] of Babylonia has built ramps up against our city [walls] in order to attack our city. Because of [our enemies’] swords and because of famines and diseases, they will be able to conquer it [easily]. The things that you said would happen have [now] happened.
25 Yet, thou thyself, saidst unto me, O My Lord, Yahweh, Buy thee the field for silver And take in attestation, witnesses, —Whereas, the city, hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans!
[And it is evident that] the Babylonian army will soon conquer this city. So now, Yahweh my Lord, [I do not understand] why you told me to buy this field with my silver, while others were watching. [It seems that I have just been wasting my money by doing that]!”
26 Then came the word of Yahweh, unto Jeremiah, saying: —
[Then] Yahweh gave me this message:
27 Lo! I, am Yahweh, God of all flesh, —For me, is any thing too wonderful?
“I am Yahweh, the God [who rules] all the people [in the world]. There is absolutely nothing [RHQ] that is too difficult for me [to do].
28 Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, —Behold me! giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
So, this is what I say: [It is true that] I will enable the Babylonian army and King Nebuchadnezzar to capture this city.
29 And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, Shall enter, and Shall set this city on fire, and Shall consume it, —With the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger;
The soldiers of Babylonia who are [now outside the walls] around the city will enter and burn this city. They will burn down [all] the houses where people caused me to become angry by burning incense on [the tops of] their roofs to [honor] Baal and by pouring out offerings of wine to other gods.
30 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been nothing but doers of wickedness in my sight from the days of their youth, —For the sons of Israel have been doing nothing but provoke me to anger by the workmanship of their hands, Declareth Yahweh;
The people of Israel and Judah have continually done only evil things from the time that they became a nation. They have caused me to become very angry by all their evil deeds.
31 For According to mine anger, and According to mine indignation, hath been to me this city, from the day when they built it even unto this day, —that I should pull it down from before my face:
From the time that this city was built until now, the people of this city have done [only] things that caused me to be very angry [DOU]. So [now] I will destroy it.
32 because of all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and the sons 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:
The people of Israel and Judah, [including] their kings, their officials, the priests, the [false] prophets, and all the other people in Jerusalem have committed many sins that have caused me to become angry.
33 Thus have they turned unto me the back, and not the face, —Though I instructed them, betimes, instructing them, Yet have they not been hearkening, to receive correction;
My people have turned away from me and have refused to return to me. Even though I taught them things many times, they would not pay attention to what I taught them, and they would not obey me.
34 But have set their abominations in the house on which my name hath been called, to defile it;
They have set up their detestable idols [even] in my own [MTY] temple and (defiled it/caused it to become a place that is unacceptable for people to worship me).
35 And have built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of Ben-hinnom, To cause their sons and their daughters to pass through unto Molech, Which I commanded them not Neither came it up on my heart, That they should do this horrible thing, —Causing, Judah, to sin!
They have built shrines to [honor] Baal in Ben-Hinnom Valley [outside Jerusalem], and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to [their god] Molech. I never commanded them to do such horrible things. I never even thought that anyone might do such a terrible thing. And by doing it they have caused [all the people of] Judah to [be guilty of having] sinned.”
36 Now therefore, because of this, —Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, —Concerning this city, whereof ye are saying, It hath been delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, by sword, and by famine and by pestilence:
“But now [I will say something more] about this city. You [people of Jerusalem] have been saying, ‘[The army of] the King of Babylon will conquer it, either by their swords or because of famines or diseases.’ But this is what [I], Yahweh, the God whom you Israeli people [say you belong to], say:
37 Behold me! gathering them out of all the lands whither I have driven them—In mine anger and In mine indignation and In great vexation, —And I will cause them to return into this place, And will make them dwell, securely;
‘I will certainly bring my people back here again, from all the countries to which I will force them to go because I am extremely angry [DOU] with them. I will bring them back to this city and allow them to live here safely.
38 And they shall become my people, —And, I, will become 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 revere me, all the days, —For the good of them and of their children after them;
I will cause them to have one way of thinking [IDM] and behaving, in order that they may revere me, for their good and for the good of their descendants.
40 And I will solemnise to them an age-abiding covenant, That I will not turn away from following them, to do them good, —But the reverence of myself, will I put in their heart, so that they shall not turn away from me.
I will make an agreement with them that will last forever: I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will encourage them to revere me and never turn away from me.
41 And I will rejoice over them, to do them good, —And will plant them in this land in truth, with all my heart and with all my soul.
I will be happy to do good things for them, and I will surely enable them to return to this land and remain here [MET]; I will do that with all my inner being and all my strength.’
42 For, Thus, saith Yahweh, Like as I have brought upon this people all this great calamity, So, am I bringing upon them all the good that I am speaking concerning them.
And this is [also] what [I], Yahweh, say: ‘I have caused them to experience all these disasters. Similarly, [some day] I will do for them all the good things that I have promised.
43 Therefore shall fields be bought in this land, —whereof ye are saying, It is, a desolation, Without man or beast, It hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans:
[By buying land you, Jeremiah, have predicted that some day] people will buy and sell fields in this land about which you [people of Jerusalem] now say, “The Babylonian soldiers have destroyed it. It is [now] desolate. [It is a land where] there are no longer any people or animals.”
44 Fields—for silver, shall men buy, And write in scrolls And seal them, And take in attestation, witnesses, In the land of Benjamin, and In the places round 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 South, —For I will cause them of their captivity to return Declareth Yahweh.
[But some day] people will [again] buy [and sell] fields here. People will sign documents [about buying those fields], and [other people] will witness them doing that. [That will happen] in the land where [the descendants of] Benjamin live and [here] in the villages near Jerusalem, in [other] towns in Judah, in the hilly areas and in the foothills [to the west], and in the southern desert area, [too. Some day] I will cause them to prosper again. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.’”
