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JER EM IAH 32
page 697
and the foundations of the earth cannot
be explored,
so I will not consider casting them away
for the evil they have done.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
38 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when
all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the
Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill
of Gareb and across to Goah. 40 And the entire
area—including the graveyard and ash dump in
the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron
Valley on the east as far as the Horse Gate—will
be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be
captured or destroyed.”
Jeremiah’s Land Purchase
The 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.* 2 Jerusalem was then under siege from the
Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned
in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace.
3 King 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. 4 King Zedekiah
will be captured by the Babylonians* and taken
to meet the king of Babylon face to face. 5 He 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.’”
6 At that time the Lord sent me a message. He
said, 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.’”
8 Then, 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.
9 So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces* of silver for it.
10 I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before
witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.
11 Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed
copy of the deed, which contained the terms and
conditions of the purchase, 12 and 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.
32
32:1a The tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign and the eighteenth
year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 587 b.c. 32:1b Hebrew
Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also
in 32:28. 32:4 Or Chaldeans; also in 32:5, 24, 25, 28, 29, 43.
32:9 Hebrew 17 shekels, about 7 ounces or 194 grams in weight.
13 Then
I said to Baruch as they all listened,
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.’ 15 For
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.’”
Jeremiah’s Prayer
16 Then after I had given the papers to Baruch,
I prayed to the Lord:
17 “O
Sovereign Lord! You made the
heavens and earth by your strong hand
and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard
for you! 18 You 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. 19 You have all wisdom and do
great and mighty miracles. You see the
conduct of all people, and you give them
what they deserve. 20 You 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.
21 “You brought Israel out of Egypt
with mighty signs and wonders, with
a strong hand and powerful arm, and
with overwhelming terror. 22 You gave
• Suffering
JE R E M I A H 32:18
It isn’t fair that we should suffer for our
parents’ or grandparents’ sins, or that
innocent people are crippled by drunk
drivers, or that millions starve because of
corrupt governments. But all these things
are realities in a world ruined by sin. What
can we do? We can recognize unfairness
and injustice as facts of life (which is not
the same as calling them acceptable). We
can also determine to live in a way that is
just and fair; with God’s help, we can rise
above the corruption. The abused need
not become abusers, and the impoverished need not live in moral poverty.
Children of unbelieving parents need not
follow in a path of despair and hardheartedness. Ask God to show you how
to be a light and a welcome relief in an
unjust world.