| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1The 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. | 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. |
| 2Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. | 2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah. |
| 3King 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. | 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that the LORD says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. |
| 4King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face. | 4Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hands of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. |
| 5He 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.’” | 5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will stay until I attend to him, declares the LORD. If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.’ ” |
| 6At that time the LORD sent me a message. He said, | 6Jeremiah replied, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying: |
| 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.’” | 7Behold! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy for yourself my field in Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.’ |
| 8Then, 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. | 8Then, as the LORD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ ” Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. |
| 9So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it. | 9So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver. |
| 10I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him. | 10I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. |
| 11Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase, | 11Then I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy with its terms and conditions, as well as the open copy— |
| 12and 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. | 12and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who were signing the purchase agreement and all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard. |
| 13Then I said to Baruch as they all listened, | 13In their sight I instructed Baruch, |
| 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.’ | 14“This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, 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 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 | 15For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” |
| 16Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the LORD: | 16After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, 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! | 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 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. | 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 the LORD of Hosts, |
| 19You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve. | 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 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. | 20You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and You do so to this very day, both in Israel and among all mankind. And You have made a name for Yourself, as is the case 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. | 21You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror. |
| 22You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before—a land flowing with milk and honey. | 22You gave them this land that You had sworn to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. |
| 23Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them. | 23They came in and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law. They failed to perform all that You commanded them to do, and so You have brought upon them all this disaster. |
| 24“See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said. | 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 Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened, as You now see! |
| 25And yet, O Sovereign LORD, you have told me to buy the field—paying good money for it before these witnesses—even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.” A Prediction of Jerusalem’s Fall | 25Yet You, O Lord GOD, 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 Chaldeans!’ ” |
| 26Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: |
| 27“I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? | 27“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me? |
| 28Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it. | 28Therefore this is what the LORD says: Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it. |
| 29The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid offerings to other gods. | 29And the Chaldeans 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. |
| 30Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,” says the LORD. | 30For the children of Israel and of Judah 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 the LORD. |
| 31“From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it. | 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 |
| 32“The sins of Israel and Judah—the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets—have stirred up my anger. | 32because of all the evil the children of Israel and of Judah have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. |
| 33My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey. | 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 set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it. | 34They have placed their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it. |
| 35They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly! A Promise of Restoration | 35They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Judah to sin. |
| 36“Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: | 36Now therefore, about this city of which you say, ‘It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword and famine and plague,’ this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: |
| 37I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. | 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. | 38They will be My people, and I will be their God. |
| 39And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. | 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. |
| 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. | 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. |
| 41I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land. | 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. |
| 42“This is what the LORD says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them. | 42For this is what the LORD 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. |
| 43Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ | 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 Chaldeans.’ |
| 44Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold—deeds signed and sealed and witnessed—in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the LORD, have spoken!” | 44Fields will be purchased with silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah—the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev—because I will restore them from captivity, declares the LORD.” |
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