Jeremiah 32
Open in the reader1This is the word that came to He-Who-Is-Will-Rise from He-Who-Is in the tenth year of He-Who-Is-Righteousness king of Praised, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
2At that time the army of the king of Confusion was besieging Foundation-of-Peace, and He-Who-Is-Will-Rise the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Praised.
3For He-Who-Is-Righteousness king of Praised had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that He-Who-Is says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Confusion, and he will capture it.
4He-Who-Is-Righteousness king of Praised will not escape from the hands of the Kasdites, but he will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Confusion, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.
5He will take He-Who-Is-Righteousness to Confusion, where he will stay until I attend to him, declares He-Who-Is. If you fight against the Kasdites, you will not succeed.’”
6He-Who-Is-Will-Rise replied, “The word of He-Who-Is came to me, saying:
7Behold! God-Has-Been-Gracious, the son of your uncle Requital, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy for yourself my field in Answers, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.’
8Then, as He-Who-Is had said, my cousin God-Has-Been-Gracious came to me in the courtyard of the guard and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Answers in the land of Son-of-the-Right-Hand, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’” Then I knew that this was the word of He-Who-Is.
9So I bought the field in Answers from my cousin God-Has-Been-Gracious, and I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver.
10I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.
11Then I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy with its terms and conditions, as well as the open copy—
12and I gave this deed to Blessed son of Lamp-of-He-Who-Is, the son of He-Who-Is-My-Refuge, in the sight of my cousin God-Has-Been-Gracious and the witnesses who were signing the purchase agreement and all the Praised-Ones sitting in the courtyard of the guard.
13In their sight I instructed Blessed,
14“This is what He-Who-Is of Hosts, the God of Strives-with-God, says: Take these deeds—both the sealed copy and the open copy of the deed of purchase—and put them in a clay jar to preserve them for a long time.
15For this is what He-Who-Is of Hosts, the God of Strives-with-God, says: House, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”
16After I had given the deed of purchase to Blessed son of Lamp-of-He-Who-Is, I prayed to He-Who-Is:
17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
18You show loving devotion to thousands but lay the iniquity of the fathers into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is He-Who-Is of Hosts,
19the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.
20You performed signs and wonders in the land of Two-Straits, and You do so to this very day, both in Strives-with-God and among all mankind. And You have made a name for Yourself, as is the case to this day.
21You brought Your people Strives-with-God out of the land of Two-Straits with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.
22You gave them this land that You had sworn to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
23They came in and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your teaching. They failed to perform all that You commanded them to do, and so You have brought upon them all this disaster.
24See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Kasdites who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened, as You now see!
25Yet You, O Lord He-Who-Is, have said to me, ‘Buy for yourself the field with silver and call in witnesses, even though the city has been delivered into the hands of the Kasdites!’”
26Then the word of He-Who-Is came to He-Who-Is-Will-Rise:
27“Behold, I am He-Who-Is, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
28Therefore this is what He-Who-Is says: Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hands of the Kasdites and of Nebuchadnezzar king of Confusion, who will capture it.
29And the Kasdites who are fighting against this city will come in, set it on fire, and burn it, along with the houses of those who provoked Me to anger by burning incense to Baal on their rooftops and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.
30For the children of Strives-with-God and of Praised have done nothing but evil in My sight from their youth; indeed, they have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands, declares He-Who-Is.
31For this city has aroused My wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. Therefore I will remove it from My presence
32because of all the evil the children of Strives-with-God and of Praised have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Praised, and the residents of Foundation-of-Peace.
33They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.
34They have placed their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.
35They have built the high places of The-Ruler in the Valley of Son-of-Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to The-King—something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Praised to sin.
36Now therefore, about this city of which you say, ‘It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Confusion by sword and famine and plague,’ this is what He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, says:
37I will surely gather My people from all the lands to which I have banished them in My furious anger and great wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them dwell in safety.
38They will be My people, and I will be their God.
39I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
40I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
41Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.
42For this is what He-Who-Is says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good I have promised them.
43And fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it has been delivered into the hands of the Kasdites.’
44Fields will be purchased with silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed in the land of Son-of-the-Right-Hand, in the areas surrounding Foundation-of-Peace, and in the cities of Praised—the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and South-Country—because I will restore them from captivity, declares He-Who-Is.”