- 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. For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison which was in the king of Judah’s house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall take it, 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 behold his eyes. And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, says the Lord. Though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper.
- And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum your uncle, shall come unto you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. So Hanamel, my uncle’s son, came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country 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, and I bought the field of Hanamel, my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open. And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanamel, my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison. And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed and this evidence which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
- Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying, Ah, Lord God, behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you. You show loving kindness unto 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 — great in counsel and mighty in work, for your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings; who have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and have made you a name as at this day; and have brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror; and have given them this land which you did swear to their fathers to give them — a land flowing with milk and honey. And they came in and possessed it, but they obeyed not 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 upon them. Behold the mounts, they have come unto the city to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence. And what you have spoken has come to pass. And behold, you see it. And you have said unto me, O Lord God, Buy the field for money and take witnesses, for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
- Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, 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 the Chaldeans that fight against this city shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth. For the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the Lord. For this city has been to me as a provocation of my 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 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. And they have turned unto me the back and not the face. Though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction, but they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech, which I commanded them not; neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
- And now therefore thus says the Lord the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: Behold, I will gather them out of all countries to which I have driven them — in my 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, and they shall be my people and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, 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. For thus says the Lord: As I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land whereof you say, It is desolate without man or beast, it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south; for I will cause their captivity to turn back, says the Lord.
- Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus says the Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it to establish it — The Lord is his name: Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are thrown down by the mounts and by the sword: They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city. Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to turn back, and will build them as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth who shall hear all the good that I do unto them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
- Thus says the Lord: Again there shall be heard in this place — which you say shall be desolate, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast — the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endures for ever unto them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to turn back the captivity of the land as at the first, says the Lord.
- Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Again in this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that tells them, says the Lord.
- Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name by which she shall be called: the Lord our Righteousness. For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel, neither shall the priests the Levites lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
- And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Do you not consider what this people have spoken? — saying, The two families whom the Lord has chosen, he has even cast them off. Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus says the Lord: If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to turn back and have mercy on them.
Chapter 13