32The Message Jeremiah received from GOD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah. It was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.H1697H3414H3068H6224H8141H6667H4428H3063H8083H6240H8141H8141H50192At that time the army of the king of Babylon was holding Jerusalem under siege. Jeremiah was shut up in jail in the royal palace.H4428H894H2428H6696H3389H3414H5030H3607H2691H4307H4428H3063H10043Zedekiah, king of Judah, had locked him up, complaining, "How dare you preach, saying, 'GOD says, I'm warning you: I will hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will take it over.H6667H4428H3063H3607H559H5012H559H559H3068H5414H5892H3027H4428H894H39204Zedekiah king of Judah will be handed over to the Chaldeans right along with the city. He will be handed over to the king of Babylon and forced to face the music.H6667H4428H3063H4422H3027H3778H5414H5414H3027H4428H894H1696H6310H6310H5869H7200H58695He'll be hauled off to Babylon where he'll stay until I deal with him. GOD's Decree. Fight against the Babylonians all you want—it won't get you anywhere.'"H3212H6667H894H6485H5002H3068H3898H3778H67436Jeremiah said, "GOD's Message came to me like this:H3414H559H1697H3068H5597Prepare yourself! Hanamel, your uncle Shallum's son, is on his way to see you. He is going to say, 'Buy my field in Anathoth. You have the legal right to buy it.'H2601H1121H7967H1730H935H559H7069H7704H6068H4941H1353H70698"And sure enough, just as GOD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me while I was in jail and said, 'Buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin, for you have the legal right to keep it in the family. Buy it. Take it over.' "That did it. I knew it was GOD's Message.H2601H1730H1121H935H2691H4307H1697H3068H559H7069H7704H6068H776H1144H4941H3425H1353H7069H3045H1697H30689"So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I paid him seventeen silver shekels.H7069H7704H2601H1730H1121H6068H8254H3701H7651H6235H8255H370110I followed all the proper procedures: In the presence of witnesses I wrote out the bill of sale, sealed it, and weighed out the money on the scales.H3789H5612H2856H5749H5707H8254H3701H397611Then I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy that contained the contract and its conditions and also the open copy—H3947H5612H4736H2856H4687H2706H154012and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. All this took place in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed, as the Jews who were at the jail that day looked on.H5414H5612H4736H1263H1121H5374H1121H4271H5869H2601H1730H5869H5707H3789H5612H4736H5869H3064H3427H2691H430713"Then, in front of all of them, I told Baruch,H6680H1263H5869H55914'These are orders from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: Take these documents—both the sealed and the open deeds—and put them for safekeeping in a pottery jar.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H3947H5612H5612H4736H2856H5612H1540H5414H2789H3627H5975H7227H311715For GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, "Life is going to return to normal. Homes and fields and vineyards are again going to be bought in this country."'H559H3068H6635H430H3478H1004H7704H3754H7069H77616"And then, having handed over the legal documents to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to GOD,H310H5414H5612H4736H1263H1121H5374H6419H3068H55917'Dear GOD, my Master, you created earth and sky by your great power—by merely stretching out your arm! There is nothing you can't do.H162H136H3069H6213H8064H776H1419H3581H5186H2220H1697H638118You're loyal in your steadfast love to thousands upon thousands—but you also make children live with the fallout from their parents' sins. Great and powerful God, named GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies,H6213H2617H505H7999H5771H1H2436H1121H310H1419H1368H410H3068H6635H803419determined in purpose and relentless in following through, you see everything that men and women do and respond appropriately to the way they live, to the things they do.H1419H6098H7227H5950H5869H6491H1870H1121H120H5414H376H1870H6529H461120"'You performed signs and wonders in the country of Egypt and continue to do so right into the present, right here in Israel and everywhere else, too. You've made a reputation for yourself that doesn't diminish.H7760H226H4159H776H4714H3117H3478H120H6213H8034H311721You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders—a powerful deliverance!—by merely stretching out your arm.H3318H5971H3478H776H4714H226H4159H2389H3027H5186H248H1419H417222You gave them this land and solemnly promised to their ancestors a bountiful and fertile land.H5414H776H7650H1H5414H776H2100H2461H170623But when they entered the land and took it over, they didn't listen to you. They didn't do what you commanded. They wouldn't listen to a thing you told them. And so you brought this disaster on them.H935H3423H8085H6963H1980H8451H6213H6680H6213H7451H712224"'Oh, look at the siege ramps already set in place to take the city. Killing and starvation and disease are on our doorstep. The Babylonians are attacking! The Word you spoke is coming to pass—it's daily news!H5550H935H5892H3920H5892H5414H3027H3778H3898H6440H2719H7458H1698H1696H720025And yet you, GOD, the Master, even though it is certain that the city will be turned over to the Babylonians, also told me, Buy the field. Pay for it in cash. And make sure there are witnesses.'"H559H136H3069H7069H7704H3701H5749H5707H5892H5414H3027H377826Then GOD's Message came again to Jeremiah:H1697H3068H3414H55927"Stay alert! I am GOD, the God of everything living. Is there anything I can't do?H3068H430H1320H1697H638128So listen to GOD's Message: No doubt about it, I'm handing this city over to the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He'll take it.H559H3068H5414H5892H3027H3778H3027H5019H4428H894H392029The attacking Chaldeans will break through and burn the city down: All those houses whose roofs were used as altars for offerings to Baal and the worship of who knows how many other gods provoked me.H3778H3898H5892H935H3341H784H5892H8313H1004H1406H6999H1168H5258H5262H312H430H370730It isn't as if this were the first time they had provoked me. The people of Israel and Judah have been doing this for a long time—doing what I hate, making me angry by the way they live." GOD's Decree.H1121H3478H1121H3063H6213H7451H5869H5271H1121H3478H3707H4639H3027H5002H306831"This city has made me angry from the day they built it, and now I've had my fill. I'm destroying it. I can't stand to look any longerH5892H639H2534H3117H1129H3117H5493H644032at the wicked lives of the people of Israel and Judah, deliberately making me angry, the whole lot of them—kings and leaders and priests and preachers, in the country and in the city.H7451H1121H3478H1121H3063H6213H3707H4428H8269H3548H5030H376H3063H3427H338933They've turned their backs on me—won't even look me in the face!—even though I took great pains to teach them how to live. They refused to listen, refused to be taught.H6437H6203H6440H3925H7925H3925H8085H3947H414834Why, they even set up obscene god and goddess statues in the Temple built in my honor—an outrageous desecration!H7760H8251H1004H7121H8034H293035And then they went out and built shrines to the god Baal in the valley of Hinnom, where they burned their children in sacrifice to the god Molech—I can hardly conceive of such evil!—turning the whole country into one huge act of sin.H1129H1116H1168H1516H1121H2011H1121H1323H5674H4432H6680H5927H3820H6213H8441H3063H239836"But there is also this Message from me, the GOD of Israel, to this city of which you have said, 'In killing and starvation and disease this city will be delivered up to the king of Babylon':H559H3068H430H3478H5892H559H5414H3027H4428H894H2719H7458H169837"'Watch for this! I will collect them from all the countries to which I will have driven them in my anger and rage and indignation. Yes, I'll bring them all back to this place and let them live here in peace.H6908H776H5080H639H2534H1419H7110H7725H4725H3427H98338They will be my people, I will be their God.H5971H43039I'll make them of one mind and heart, always honoring me, so that they can live good and whole lives, they and their children after them.H5414H259H3820H259H1870H3372H3117H2896H1121H31040What's more, I'll make a covenant with them that will last forever, a covenant to stick with them no matter what, and work for their good. I'll fill their hearts with a deep respect for me so they'll not even think of turning away from me.H3772H5769H1285H7725H310H3190H5414H3374H3824H549341"'Oh how I'll rejoice in them! Oh how I'll delight in doing good things for them! Heart and soul, I'll plant them in this country and keep them here!'H7797H2895H5193H776H571H3820H531542"Yes, this is GOD's Message: 'I will certainly bring this huge catastrophe on this people, but I will also usher in a wonderful life of prosperity. I promise.H559H3068H935H1419H7451H5971H935H2896H169643Fields are going to be bought here again, yes, in this very country that you assume is going to end up desolate—gone to the dogs, unlivable, wrecked by the Babylonians.H7704H7069H776H559H8077H120H929H5414H3027H377844Yes, people will buy farms again, and legally, with deeds of purchase, sealed documents, proper witnesses—and right here in the territory of Benjamin, and in the area around Jerusalem, around the villages of Judah and the hill country, the Shephelah and the Negev. I will restore everything that was lost.' GOD's Decree."H7069H7704H3701H3789H5612H2856H5749H5707H776H1144H5439H3389H5892H3063H5892H2022H5892H8219H5892H5045H7622H7725H5002H3068
Dublin, OH
