Jeremiah 39

The word that came from the Lord to Ieremias in the tenth year of king Sedekias — this is the eighteenth year of king Nabouchodonosor king of Babylon.

And the force of the king of Babylon had thrown up a siege-wall against Jerusalem, and Ieremias was being kept in the court of the guard, which is in the house of the king,

in which Sedekias the king had shut him up, saying: Why do you prophesy, saying: Thus said the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;

and Sedekias shall not be saved from the hand of the Chaldeans, for he shall surely be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with his mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes;

and Sedekias shall go into Babylon, and there he shall remain.

And a word of the Lord came to Ieremias, saying:

Behold, Anameel son of Salom your father's brother is coming to you, saying: Buy for yourself my field which is in Anathoth, for the right is yours to take it for a possession.

And Anameel son of my father's brother came to me in the court of the guard and said to me: Buy my field which is in the land of Benjamin, in Anathoth, for the right is yours to buy it, and you are the elder. And I knew that it was the word of the Lord.

And I bought the field of Anameel son of my father's brother, and I weighed out to him seven shekels and ten of silver.

And I wrote in a document and sealed it and called witnesses to testify and set the silver on a balance.

And I took the document of the purchase, the sealed one and the one that had been read out,

and I gave it to Barouch son of Nerias son of Maasaias before the eyes of Anameel son of my father's brother and before the eyes of those standing and writing in the document of the purchase and before the eyes of the Judeans who were in the court of the guard.

And I gave orders to Barouch before their eyes, saying:

Thus said the Lord Almighty: Take this document of the purchase and the document that has been read out, and you shall put it in an earthen vessel, so that it may remain for many days.

For thus said the Lord: Fields and houses and vineyards shall yet be acquired in this land.

And I prayed to the Lord after I gave the document of the purchase to Barouch son of Nerias, saying:

O Lord, you made the heaven and the earth by your great strength and by your arm, the lofty and the uplifted; nothing at all shall be hidden from you.

doing mercy to thousands and repaying the sins of fathers into the bosoms of their children after them, the God, the great and mighty one,

the Lord of great counsel and mighty in deeds, the great God, the Almighty and Lord of great name: your eyes are upon the ways of the sons of men, to give to each according to his way,

who did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt until this day, and in Israel and among the earthborn, and you made for yourself a name as this day.

And you brought out your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a mighty hand and with a lofty arm and with great visions,

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

And they entered and took it, and they did not listen to your voice, and in your ordinances they did not walk; all that you commanded them they did not do; and you made all these evils befall them.

Behold, a throng has come to this city to seize it, and the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who fight against it, before the sword and the famine. As you spoke, so it has come to pass.

And you say to me: Acquire for yourself a field with silver. And I wrote a document and sealed it and called witnesses to testify—and the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

And a word of the Lord came to me, saying:

I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; shall anything be hidden from me?

Therefore thus said the Lord, the God of Israel: This city shall surely be given over into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

And the Chaldeans shall come warring against this city, and they shall burn this city with fire and shall burn down the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, so as to provoke me to bitterness.

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah alone were doing what is evil before my eyes from their youth.

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

because of all the wickednesses of the sons of Israel and Judah which they did to embitter me—they and their kings and their rulers and their priests and their prophets, men of Judah and those inhabiting Jerusalem.

And they turned their back to me and not their face; and I taught them early in the morning, and I taught, but they did not listen so as to receive instruction.

And they set their defilements in the house upon which my name was called, in their uncleannesses.

And they built the altars to Baal that are in the valley of the son of Ennom, to offer up their sons and their daughters to Moloch the king, which I did not enjoin upon them, nor did it come up upon my heart to do this abomination, so as to make Judah sin.

And now thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the city of which you speak: It shall be given over into the hands of the king of Babylon by sword and by famine and by banishment.

Behold, I am gathering them from all the land where I scattered them there in my anger and my wrath and in great exasperation, and I will bring them back to this place and will settle them in confidence.

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

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

And I will make with them an everlasting covenant, which I will surely not turn back from behind them; and I will put my fear into their heart, so that they do not depart from me.

And I will visit them so as to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness and with all heart and with all soul.

For thus said the Lord: Just as I brought upon this people all these great evils, so I will bring upon them all the good things which I spoke concerning them.

And fields shall yet be acquired in the land of which you say: It is impassable, without man and beast, and they have been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

And they shall acquire fields with silver, and you shall write a document and seal it and call witnesses to testify, in the land of Benjamin and around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the hill and in the cities of Sephela and in the cities of Nageb; for I will bring back their exiles.