Jeremias by God's commandment purchases a field of his kinsman: and
prophesies the return of the people out of captivity: and the
everlasting covenant God will make with his church.
32:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the tenth year of
Sedecias king of Juda: the same is the eighteenth year of
Nabuchodonosor.
32:2. At that time the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem:
and Jeremias the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which
was in the house of the king of Juda.
32:3. For Sedecias king of Juda had shut him up, saying: Why dost thou
prophesy, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will give this city
into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it?
32:4. And Sedecias king of Juda shall not escape out of the hand of the
Chaldeans: but he shall be delivered into the hands of the king of
Babylon: and he shall speak to him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall
see his eyes.
32:5. And he shall lead Sedecias to Babylon: and he shall be there till
I visit him, saith the Lord. But if you will fight against the
Chaldeans, you shall have no success.
32:6. And Jeremias said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
32:7. Behold, Hanameel the son of Sellum thy cousin shall come to thee,
saying: Buy thee my field, which is in Anathoth, for it is thy right to
buy it, being next akin.
32:8. And Hanameel my uncle's son came to me, according to the word of
the Lord, to the entry of the prison, and said to me: Buy my field,
which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: for the right of
inheritance is thine, and thou art next of kin to possess it. And I
understood that this was the word of the Lord.
32:9. And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that is in
Anathoth: and I weighed him the money, seven staters, and ten pieces of
silver.
32:10. And I wrote it in a book and sealed it, and took witnesses: and
I weighed him the money in the balances.
32:11. And I took the deed of the purchase that was sealed, and the
stipulations, and the ratifications with the seals that were on the
outside.
32:12. And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neri
the son of Maasias in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son, in the
presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, and
before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
32:13. And I charged Baruch before them, saying:
32:14. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take these
writings, this deed of the purchase that is sealed up, and this deed
that is open: and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue
many days.
32:15. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Houses, and
fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
32:16. And after I had delivered the deed of purchase to Baruch the son
of Neri, I prayed to the Lord, saying:
32:17. Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, behold thou hast made heaven and
earth by thy great power, and thy stretched out arm: no word shall be
hard to thee:
32:18. Thou shewest mercy unto thousands, and returnest the iniquity of
the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: O most mighty,
great, and powerful, the Lord of hosts is thy name.
32:19. Great in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought: whose eyes
are open upon all the ways of the children of Adam, to render unto
every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his
devices.
32:20. Who hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even until
this day, and in Israel, and amongst men, and hast made thee a name as
at this day.
32:21. And hast brought forth thy people Israel, out of the land of
Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and a
stretched out arm, and with great terror.
32:22. And hast given them this land which thou didst swear to their
fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.
32:23. And they came in, and possessed it: but they obeyed not thy
voice, and they walked not in thy law: and they did not any of those
things that thou didst command them to do, and all these evils are come
upon them.
32:24. Behold works are built up against the city to take it: and the
city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, by
the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and what thou hast
spoken, is all come to pass, as thou thyself seest.
32:25. And sayest thou to me, O Lord God: Buy a field for money, and
take witnesses, whereas the city is given into the hands of the
Chaldeans?
32:26. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
32:27. Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh: shall any thing be
hard for me?
32:28. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver this city
into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of the king of
Babylon, and they shall take it.
32:29. And the Chaldeans that fight against this city, shall come and
set it on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they
offered sacrifice to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to strange
gods, to provoke me to wrath.
32:30. For the children of Israel, and the children of Juda, have
continually done evil in my eyes from their youth: the children of
Israel who even till now provoke me with the work of their hands, saith
the Lord.
32:31. For this city hath been to me a provocation and indignation from
the day that they built it, until this day, in which it shall be taken
out of my sight.
32:32. Because of all the evil of the children of Israel, and of the
children of Juda, which they have done, provoking me to wrath, they and
their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, the
men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
32:33. And they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces:
when I taught them early in the morning, and instructed them, and they
would not hearken to receive instruction.
32:34. And they have set their idols in the house, in which my name is
called upon, to defile it.
32:35. And they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the
valley of the son of Ennom, to consecrate their sons and their
daughters to Moloch: which I commanded them not, neither entered it
into my heart, that they should do this abomination, and cause Juda to
sin.
32:36. And now, therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to
this city, whereof you say that it shall be delivered into the hands of
the king of Babylon by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence:
32:37. Behold I will gather them together out of all the lands to which
I have cast them out in my anger, and in my wrath, and in my great
indignation: and I will bring them again into this place, and will
cause them to dwell securely.
32:38. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
32:39. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear
me all days: and that it may be well with them, and with their children
after them.
32:40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and will not
cease to do them good: and I will give my fear in their heart, that
they may not revolt from me.
32:41. And I will rejoice over them, when I shall do them good: and I
will plant them in this land in truth, with my whole heart, and with
all my soul.
32:42. For thus saith the Lord: As I have brought upon this people all
this great evil: so will I bring upon them all the good that I now
speak to them.
32:43. And fields shall be purchased in this land: whereof you say that
it is desolate, because there remaineth neither man nor beast, and it
is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.
32:44. Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be written,
and sealed, and witnesses shall be taken, in the land of Benjamin, and
round about Jerusalem, in the cities of Juda, and in the cities on the
mountains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are
towards the south: for I will bring back their captivity, saith the
Lord.