Previous Chapter Full Page Full Page Next Chapter

Jeremiah 32 :: New International Version (NIV)

Jeremiah Buys a Field

Jer 32:1This 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.
Jer 32:2The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.
Jer 32:3Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
Jer 32:4Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babylonians[fn] but will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes.
Jer 32:5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the LORD. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’ ”
Jer 32:6Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me:
Jer 32:7Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’
Jer 32:8“Then, just as the LORD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’ “I knew that this was the word of the LORD;
Jer 32:9so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels[fn] of silver.
Jer 32:10I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales.
Jer 32:11I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy—
Jer 32:12and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.
Jer 32:13“In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions:
Jer 32:14‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.
Jer 32:15For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’
Jer 32:16“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD:
Jer 32:17“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Jer 32:18You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD Almighty,
Jer 32:19great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve.
Jer 32:20You performed signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours.
Jer 32:21You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.
Jer 32:22You gave them this land you had sworn to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Jer 32:23They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster on them.
Jer 32:24“See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see.
Jer 32:25And though the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians, you, Sovereign LORD, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.’ ”
Jer 32:26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
Jer 32:27“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Jer 32:28Therefore this is what the LORD says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it.
Jer 32:29The Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down, along with the houses where the people aroused my anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.
Jer 32:30“The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger with what their hands have made, declares the LORD.
Jer 32:31From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight.
Jer 32:32The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem.
Jer 32:33They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.
Jer 32:34They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiled it.
Jer 32:35They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.
Jer 32:36“You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:
Jer 32:37I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.
Jer 32:38They will be my people, and I will be their God.
Jer 32:39I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.
Jer 32:40I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.
Jer 32:41I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.
Jer 32:42“This is what the LORD says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.
Jer 32:43Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without people or animals, for it has been given into the hands of the Babylonians.’
Jer 32:44Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes,[fn] declares the LORD.”
NIV Footnotes
Or Chaldeans; also in verses 5, 24, 25, 28, 29 and 43
That is, about 7 ounces or about 200 grams
Or will bring them back from captivity
Translation Copyright Logo

HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

Jeremiah Chapter 32 — Additional Translations: