af[See ver. 17 above]
ai[See ver. 14 above]
bb[See ver. 25 above]
bg[See ver. 31 above]
bp[See ver. 3 above]
bv[See ver. 2 above]
bw[See ver. 7 above]
bx[See ver. 7 above]
cc[See ver. 9 above]
cf[See ver. 2 above]
cg[See ver. 12 above]
di[See ver. 24 above]
dr[See ver. 29 above]
ec[See ver. 34 above]

Jeremiah 29

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

1These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to athe surviving elders of the exiles, and to bthe priests, cthe prophets, and dall the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after eKing Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of fShaphan and Gemariah the son of gHilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 hBuild houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ipray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: jDo not let your prophets and kyour diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,
Hebrew your dreams, which you cause to dream
9for mit is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; nI did not send them, declares the Lord.

10For thus says the Lord: oWhen seventy years are completed for Babylon, pI will visit you, qand I will fulfill to you my promise rand bring you back to this place. 11 sFor I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare
Or peace
and not for evil, uto give you a future and a hope.
12 vThen you will call upon me and come and pray to me, wand I will hear you. 13 xYou will seek me and find me, when you seek me ywith all your heart. 14I will be found by you, declares the Lord, zand I will restore your fortunes and aagather you from all the nations and all the places abwhere I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

15Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ 16thus says the Lord concerning acthe king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 17Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them adsword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like aevile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. 18I will pursue them with afsword, famine, and pestilence, agand will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ahto be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations aiwhere I have driven them, 19because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ajthat I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ 20Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles akwhom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, alwho are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22 amBecause of them anthis curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, aowhom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, apthey have committed adultery with their neighborswives, and aqthey have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. arI am the one who knows, asand I am witness, declares the Lord.’”

Shemaiah’s False Prophecy

24To atShemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: 25Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to auZephaniah the son of avMaaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have awcharge in the house of the Lord axover every madman who prophesies, to put him in aythe stocks and neck irons. 27Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah azof Anathoth who is prophesying to you? 28For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; babuild houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”

29 bbZephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 bcThen the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning bdShemaiah of Nehelam: Because beShemaiah had prophesied to you bfwhen I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, 32therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish bgShemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, bhand he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, bifor he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”

Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord bjin the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, bkwhich was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet blwas shut up in bmthe court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: bnBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; 4 boZedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, bpbut shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. 5And bqhe shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. brThough you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

6Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, bsBuy my field that is at btAnathoth, bufor the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ 8Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in bvthe court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at bwAnathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

9“And I bought the field at bxAnathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and byweighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10 bzI signed the deed, casealed it, cbgot witnesses, and ccweighed the money on scales. 11Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. 12And I gave the deed of purchase to cdBaruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of cethe witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in cfthe court of the guard. 13I charged cgBaruch in their presence, saying, 14Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. 15For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and chfields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

16After I had given the deed of purchase to ciBaruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: 17Ah, Lord God! It is cjyou who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ckyour outstretched arm! clNothing is too hard for you. 18 cmYou show steadfast love to thousands, cnbut you repay the guilt of fathers coto their children after them, O great and cpmighty God, whose name is the cqLord of hosts, 19 crgreat in counsel and csmighty in deed, ctwhose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, curewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20You have shown cvsigns and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, cwand have made a name for yourself, as at this day. 21 cxYou brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and cyoutstretched arm, czand with great terror. 22And you gave them this land, dawhich you swore to their fathers to give them, dba land flowing with milk and honey. 23And they entered and took possession of it. dcBut they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. 24Behold, ddthe siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and debecause of sword and famine and pestilence dfthe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. 25Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, dgBuy the field for money dhand get witnesses”—though dithe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

26The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27Behold, I am the Lord, djthe God of all flesh. dkIs anything too hard for me? 28Therefore, thus says the Lord: dlBehold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. 29The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city dmshall come and set this city on fire and burn it, dnwith the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal doand drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, dpto provoke me to anger. 30For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight dqfrom their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but drprovoke me to anger dsby the work of their hands, declares the Lord. 31This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, dtso that I will remove it from my sight 32because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to angerdutheir kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 dvThey have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them dwpersistently, they have not listened dxto receive instruction. 34They set up dytheir abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 35They built the high places of Baal dzin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, eato offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ebthough I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ecthis abomination, edto cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

36Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ee‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37 efBehold, I will gather them from all the countries egto which I drove them in ehmy anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, eiand I will make them dwell in safety. 38 ejAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 ekI will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, elfor their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 emI will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. enAnd I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 eoI will rejoice in doing them good, epand I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

42For thus says the Lord: eqJust as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. 43 erFields shall be bought in this land esof which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; etit is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ 44Fields shall be bought for money, and eudeeds shall be signed and evsealed and ewwitnessed, exin the land of Benjamin, eyin the places about Jerusalem, ezand in the cities of Judah, fain the cities of the hill country, fbin the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for fcI will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

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