Jeremiah buys a field
1 ① This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign as king of Judah, the eighteenth year of Nebu chadnezzar. 2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem and the prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned in the Guards’ Courtyard of the royal palace of Judah.
3Zedekiah king of Judah had him shut up after saying to him, “Why do you pro phesy in the name of Yahweh as you do? Yes, you said: ‘I am going to hand this city to the king of Babylon who will take it. 4And King Zedekiah will not escape from the Chaldeans; he will be delivered into the power of the king of Babylon, speak face to face to him and see him with his own eyes. 5Zedekiah will be brought to Babylon where he will remain until I deal with him. In any case your fight against the Chaldeans is hopeless’.”
6So at that time the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah: 7‘Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, is going to visit you and ask you to buy his field at Anathoth as it is your right to do so.’ 8Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the Guards and said, ‘Purchase my field at Anathoth since you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’
9I then understood this was the word of Yahweh and I bought the field from Hanamel and I weighed out the silver for it, seventeen shekels of silver. 10Then I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed and the silver weighed on the scales. 11Then I took the deed of purchase (the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy). 12I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mah seiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle and the witnesses who signed the deed and before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the Guards. 13Then in their presence I commanded Baruch:
14This is what Yahweh the God of hosts and the God of Israel says: Take these documents, both the sealed and the unsealed copies of the deed of purchase. Place them in an earthenware jar so that they may last a long time 15for Yahweh God of hosts and God of Israel says this: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”
Prayer of Jeremiah
16When I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh: 17“Ah, Lord Yahweh, you have made the heavens and the earth with your great power and mighty deeds. Nothing is impossible to you! 18You show mercy to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins on their children. Great and Mighty, Yahweh God of hosts is your name! 19You are great in planning and mighty in deeds, your eyes follow the ways of all the humans, and you give to each one according to his conduct and the fruit of their actions.
20You have continually worked signs and wonders, in the land of Egypt, in Israel and among all human kind. Hence you have be come famous, as we see today. 21You brought your people from the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with your great power and your mighty deeds.
22You gave your people this land which you had promised with an oath to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23But as soon as they entered and conquered it, they did not listen to you and did not walk according to your Law. They refused to do what you commanded and you brought great misfortune on them. 24You see, O Yahweh, the mounds built up to take the city are reaching it. And the city exhausted by the sword, famine and plague will be given over to the Chaldeans. What you foretold has happened as you can now see! 25And yet you told me, O Lord Yahweh, to buy a field with silver and have the purchase witnessed in the very days the city is falling to the Chaldeans!”
God’s answer
26The word of Yahweh then came to Jeremiah: 27“I am Yahweh, the God of all humankind. Is there anything impossible for me? 28Therefore this is what Yahweh says: I am about to hand the city over to the Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon who will take it. 29The Chaldeans who are attacking the city will come in and set it on fire. They will burn the houses where the people aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal and pouring drink offerings to foreign gods. 30For the people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. 31All they did was to arouse my anger with the work of their hands – it is Yahweh who speaks – for this city has so aroused my anger and fury from the time it was built to this day, 32that I must remove it from my sight. It is on account of all the evil the people of Israel and Judah have done to anger me – they, their kings and princes, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33They turned their backs to me and not their faces. Although I taught them time and time again they did not listen nor have they learned the lesson. 34They even put their idols in the sanctuary that houses my Name to defile it. 35They built high places to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom where they worshipped Baal and sacrificed their sons and daughters to Moloch. This I never commanded nor did I ever think they could do such a detestable thing and so make Judah so sinful.
I will bring them back
36As you say, this city exhausted by the sword, famine and plague will be handed over to the king of Babylon. But now listen to what Yahweh the God of Israel says: 37“See, I am going to gather them from all the countries where I scattered them in my anger, fury and great wrath.
I will bring them back to this place and have them live in safety. 38They will be my people and I shall be their God.
39I will have them think and act in another way, so that they may always fear me for their own good and the good of their children.
40I will forge an eternal covenant with them by which I shall never cease to do them good and I shall place my fear in their heart so that they may never turn away from me.
41I shall rejoice in doing them good and I shall plant them securely in this land with all my heart and soul.”
42And Yahweh says, “Just as I brought great disaster on this people, so shall I bring them all the happiness I promised them. 43Then fields will be bought in this land about which you say that it is a waste land without people or animals and given over to the Chaldeans.
44Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds written and sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin and the region around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah, in the towns of the hill country, in the towns of Shephelah and those of the south.
Yes, I will bring back their captives” – word of Yahweh.
- Jer 32,1 During the second siege and prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah buys a field as if to prove that the land has not lost its worth; one day the fallen nation will rise again. The end of the chapter (32:37) renews for Judah the same promise of the new covenant which Jeremiah had predicted for Israel a few years before (chapters 30 and 31:31).
