Jeremiah 32 - Prayer Tents

Jeremiah’s Land Purchase

32The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.H1697H3414H3068H6224H8141H6667H4428H3063H8083H6240H8141H8141H5019 2Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace.H4428H894H2428H6696H3389H3414H5030H3607H2691H4307H4428H3063H1004 3King Zedekiah had put him there, asking why he kept giving this prophecy: “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it.H6667H4428H3063H3607H559H5012H559H559H3068H5414H5892H3027H4428H894H3920 4King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face.H6667H4428H3063H4422H3027H3778H5414H5414H3027H4428H894H1696H6310H6310H5869H7200H5869 5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and I will deal with him there,’ says the Lord. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will never succeed.’”H3212H6667H894H6485H5002H3068H3898H3778H6743 6At that time the Lord sent me a message. He said,H3414H559H1697H3068H559 7“Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.’”H2601H1121H7967H1730H935H559H7069H7704H6068H4941H1353H7069 8Then, just as the Lord had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the Lord.H2601H1730H1121H935H2691H4307H1697H3068H559H7069H7704H6068H776H1144H4941H3425H1353H7069H3045H1697H3068 9So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it.H7069H7704H2601H1730H1121H6068H8254H3701H7651H6235H8255H3701 10I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.H3789H5612H2856H5749H5707H8254H3701H3976 11Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase,H3947H5612H4736H2856H4687H2706H1540 12and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there in the courtyard of the guardhouse.H5414H5612H4736H1263H1121H5374H1121H4271H5869H2601H1730H5869H5707H3789H5612H4736H5869H3064H3427H2691H4307 13Then I said to Baruch as they all listened,H6680H1263H5869H559 14“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’H559H3068H6635H430H3478H3947H5612H5612H4736H2856H5612H1540H5414H2789H3627H5975H7227H3117 15For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”H559H3068H6635H430H3478H1004H7704H3754H7069H776

Jeremiah’s Prayer

16Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the Lord.H310H5414H5612H4736H1263H1121H5374H6419H3068H559 17“O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!H162H136H3069H6213H8064H776H1419H3581H5186H2220H1697H6381 18You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.H6213H2617H505H7999H5771H1H2436H1121H310H1419H1368H410H3068H6635H8034 19You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve.H1419H6098H7227H5950H5869H6491H1870H1121H120H5414H376H1870H6529H4611 20You performed miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt—things still remembered to this day! And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name famous to this day.H7760H226H4159H776H4714H3117H3478H120H6213H8034H3117 21“You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with a strong hand and powerful arm, and with overwhelming terror.H3318H5971H3478H776H4714H226H4159H2389H3027H5186H248H1419H4172 22You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before—a land flowing with milk and honey.H5414H776H7650H1H5414H776H2100H2461H1706 23Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.H935H3423H8085H6963H1980H8451H6213H6680H6213H7451H7122 24“See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said.H5550H935H5892H3920H5892H5414H3027H3778H3898H6440H2719H7458H1698H1696H7200 25And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field—paying good money for it before these witnesses—even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.”H559H136H3069H7069H7704H3701H5749H5707H5892H5414H3027H3778

A Prediction of Jerusalem’s Fall

26Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord:H1697H3068H3414H559 27“I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?H3068H430H1320H1697H6381 28Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it.H559H3068H5414H5892H3027H3778H3027H5019H4428H894H3920 29The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid offerings to other gods.H3778H3898H5892H935H3341H784H5892H8313H1004H1406H6999H1168H5258H5262H312H430H3707 30Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,” says the Lord.H1121H3478H1121H3063H6213H7451H5869H5271H1121H3478H3707H4639H3027H5002H3068 31“From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.H5892H639H2534H3117H1129H3117H5493H6440 32“The sins of Israel and Judah—the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets—have stirred up my anger.H7451H1121H3478H1121H3063H6213H3707H4428H8269H3548H5030H376H3063H3427H3389 33My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.H6437H6203H6440H3925H7925H3925H8085H3947H4148 34They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.H7760H8251H1004H7121H8034H2930 35They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!H1129H1116H1168H1516H1121H2011H1121H1323H5674H4432H6680H5927H3820H6213H8441H3063H2398

A Promise of Restoration

36“Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:H559H3068H430H3478H5892H559H5414H3027H4428H894H2719H7458H1698 37I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety.H6908H776H5080H639H2534H1419H7110H7725H4725H3427H983 38They will be my people, and I will be their God.H5971H430 39And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.H5414H259H3820H259H1870H3372H3117H2896H1121H310 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.H3772H5769H1285H7725H310H3190H5414H3374H3824H5493 41I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.H7797H2895H5193H776H571H3820H5315 42“This is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them.H559H3068H935H1419H7451H5971H935H2896H1696 43Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’H7704H7069H776H559H8077H120H929H5414H3027H3778 44Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold—deeds signed and sealed and witnessed—in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H7069H7704H3701H3789H5612H2856H5749H5707H776H1144H5439H3389H5892H3063H5892H2022H5892H8219H5892H5045H7622H7725H5002H3068