Jeremiah 32 · The Lantern

Jeremiah Buys Hanamel’s Field

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah — that is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

And then the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah,

where Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying: Why do you prophesy, saying: Thus says the LORD: See, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it;

and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, for he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and his mouth will speak with his mouth and his eyes will see his eyes;

and to Babylon he will lead Zedekiah, and there he will be until I attend to him — the utterance of the LORD; though you fight the Chaldeans, you will not prosper?

And Jeremiah said: The word of the LORD came to me, saying:

See, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying: Buy for yourself my field that is in Anathoth, for yours is the judgment of redemption, to buy.

And Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me, according to the word of the LORD, to the court of the guard, and said to me: Buy now my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for yours is the judgment of possession and yours the redemption; buy it for yourself. And I knew that it was the word of the LORD.

And I bought the field from Hanamel my uncle’s son, which was in Anathoth, and I weighed out for him the silver — seventeen shekels of silver.

And I wrote in the document and sealed it and had witnesses testify, and I weighed the silver in the scales.

And I took the document of purchase — the sealed one, with the commandment and the statutes, and the open one —

and I gave the document of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, before the eyes of Hanamel my uncle’s son and before the eyes of the witnesses who wrote in the document of purchase, before the eyes of all the Judeans sitting in the court of the guard.

And I commanded Baruch before their eyes, saying:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these documents — this document of purchase, both the sealed one and this open document — and put them in an earthenware vessel, so that they may stand many days.

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

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

And I prayed to the LORD after I gave the document of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, saying:

Ah, Lord GOD! See, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too wonderful for you —

doing loyal love to thousands and repaying the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them; the great, the mighty God — the LORD of hosts is his name —

great in counsel and abundant in deed, whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of man, to give to a man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;

who set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt until this day, and in Israel and among mankind, and made yourself a name, as at this day.

And you brought your people Israel out from the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great fear.

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

And they came and possessed it, but they did not obey your voice and in your instruction they did not walk. All that you commanded them to do they did not do — and you made all this evil meet them.

See, the siege ramps have come to the city to capture it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, before the sword and the famine and the pestilence. And what you spoke has happened — and see, you are looking on.

And you have said to me, Lord GOD: Buy for yourself the field with silver, and have witnesses testify — and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

The LORD Answers Jeremiah

And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:

See, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too wonderful for me?

Therefore thus says the LORD: See, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come and set this city on fire and burn it — and the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, in order to provoke me.

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have only been doing the evil in my eyes from their youth; for the sons of Israel have only been provoking me with the work of their hands — the utterance of the LORD.

For this city has been to me for my anger and for my wrath, from the day they built it until this day, so that I should remove it from before my face,

for all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they did to provoke me — they, their kings, their princes, their priests and their prophets, and the man of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And they turned to me the back of the neck and not the face; and teaching them, rising early and teaching, they were not listening to take discipline.

And they set their detestable things in the house on which my name is called, to defile it.

And they built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to make their sons and their daughters pass over to Molech — which I did not command them, and it did not come up on my heart, to do this abomination, in order to make Judah sin.

A Promise of Restoration

And now, therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of 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:

See, I am gathering them from all the lands where I drove them in my anger and in my wrath and in great rage; and I will bring them back to this place and settle them in security.

And they will be a people to me, and I will be God to them.

And I will give them one heart and one way, to fear me all the days, for good to them and to their sons after them.

And I will cut for them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn back from after them, to do them good; and my fear I will put in their heart, so they will not turn from me.

And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in truth, with all my heart and with all my soul.

For thus says the LORD: As I brought to this people all this great evil, so I am bringing on them all the good that I am speaking about them.

And the field will be bought in this land of which you say, It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.