Buying Property in a War Zone

¹This is 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.

²Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house.

³For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘The LORD says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;

⁴and Zedekiah king of Judah won’t escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes;

⁵and he will bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” says the LORD, “though you fight with the Chaldeans, you will not prosper”’?”

⁶Jeremiah said, “The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

⁷‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.”’”

⁸“So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the LORD’s word, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land 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 LORD’s word.

⁹I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

¹⁰I signed the deed, sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the money in the balances to him.

¹¹So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open;

¹²and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.

¹³“I commanded Baruch before them, saying,

¹⁴the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.’

¹⁵For the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.’

¹⁶Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying,

¹⁷“Ah Lord GOD! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.

¹⁸You show loving kindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God, the LORD of Armies is your name:

¹⁹great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings;

²⁰who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men; and made yourself a name, as it is today;

²¹and brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, with wonders, with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, and with great terror;

²²and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

²³They came in and possessed it, but they didn’t obey your voice and didn’t walk 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.

²⁴“Behold, siege ramps have been built against the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, of the famine, and of the pestilence. What you have spoken has happened. Behold, you see it.

²⁵You have said to me, Lord GOD, ‘Buy the field for money, and call witnesses;’ whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”

²⁶Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁷“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?

²⁸Therefore the LORD says: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.

²⁹The Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

³⁰“For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD.

³¹For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day, so that I should remove it from before my face,

³²because 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, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³They have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. Although I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.

³⁴But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

³⁵They 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 fire to Molech, which I didn’t command them. It didn’t even come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”

³⁶Now therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning this city, about which you say, “It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:”

³⁷“Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place. I will cause them to dwell safely.

³⁸Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

³⁹I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good and the good of their children after them.

⁴⁰I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.

⁴¹Yes, 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.”

⁴²For the LORD says: “Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

⁴³Fields will be bought in this land, about which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or animal. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’

⁴⁴Men will buy fields for money, sign the deeds, seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed,” says the LORD.

¹Moreover the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying,

²“The LORD who does it, the LORD who forms it to establish it—the LORD is his name, says:

³‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’

⁴For the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the mounds and against the sword:

⁵‘While men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city,

⁶behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.

⁷I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and will build them as at the first.

⁸I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me.

⁹This city will be to me for a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’”

¹⁰The LORD says: “Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say, ‘It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,’

¹¹the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Armies, for the LORD is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into the LORD’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed as at the first,” says the LORD.

¹²The LORD of Armies says: “Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

¹³In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them,” says the LORD.

¹⁴“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.

¹⁵“In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David. He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. This is the name by which she will be called: The LORD our righteousness.”

¹⁷For the LORD says: “David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.

¹⁸The Levitical priests won’t lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.”

¹⁹The LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁰“The LORD says: ‘If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their time,

²¹then my covenant could also be broken with David my servant, that he won’t have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levitical priests, my ministers.

²²As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’”

²³The LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁴“Don’t consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘Has the LORD cast off the two families which he chose?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.”

²⁵The LORD says: “If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,

²⁶then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have mercy on them.”