The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

1 ^z“At that time, declares the Lord, ^aI will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, ^awhen I restore their fortunes:

24 ^eAnd Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and ^ethe farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25 For I will ^fsatisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

27 ^g“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^hI will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ⁱthe seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that ^jas I have watched over them ^kto pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^jso I will watch over them ^lto build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

30 ⁿBut everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

31 ^o“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^pa new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^qI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^rthough I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 ^sFor this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^sI will put my law within them, and I will write it ^ton their hearts. ^uAnd I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^vfor they shall all know me, ^wfrom the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^xI will forgive their iniquity, and ^yI will remember their sin no more.”

38 ^e“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord ^ffrom the Tower of Hananel to ^gthe Corner Gate. 39 ^hAnd the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 ⁱThe whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the ^jbrook Kidron, to the corner of ^kthe Horse Gate toward the east, ^lshall be sacred to the Lord. ^mIt shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ⁿin the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^owhich was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^pwas shut up in ^qthe court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^rBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; 4 ^sZedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^rbut 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. 5 And ^the shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^uThough you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^v‘Buy my field that is at ^wAnathoth, ^xfor the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ 8 Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^qthe court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^wAnathoth 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 ^wAnathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^yweighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10 ^zI signed the deed, ^asealed it, ^bgot witnesses, and ^yweighed the money on scales. 11 Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. 12 And I gave the deed of purchase to ^cBaruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of ^dthe witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in ^qthe court of the guard. 13 I charged ^cBaruch in their presence, saying, 14 ‘Thus 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. 15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and ^efields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

16 “After I had given the deed of purchase to ^fBaruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: 17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is ^gyou who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ^hyour outstretched arm! ⁱNothing is too hard for you. 18 ^jYou show steadfast love to thousands, ^jbut you repay the guilt of fathers ^kto their children after them, O great and ^lmighty God, whose name is the ^mLord of hosts, 19 ⁿgreat in counsel and ^omighty in deed, ^pwhose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, ^qrewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20 You have shown ^rsigns and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, ^sand have made a name for yourself, as at this day. 21 ^tYou brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and ^uoutstretched arm, ^tand with great terror. 22 And you gave them this land, ^vwhich you swore to their fathers to give them, ^va land flowing with milk and honey. 23 And they entered and took possession of it. ^wBut 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. 24 Behold, ^xthe siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ^ybecause of sword and famine and pestilence ^zthe 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. 25 Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ^a“Buy the field for money ^band get witnesses”—though ^zthe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

26 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, ^cthe God of all flesh. ^dIs anything too hard for me? 28 Therefore, thus says the Lord: ^eBehold, 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. 29 The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city ^fshall come and set this city on fire and burn it, ^gwith the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal ^gand drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, ^hto provoke me to anger. 30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ⁱfrom their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but ^hprovoke me to anger ^jby the work of their hands, declares the Lord. 31 This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, ^kso that I will remove it from my sight 32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—^ltheir kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 ^mThey have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them ⁿpersistently, they have not listened ^oto receive instruction. 34 They set up ^ptheir abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 35 They built the high places of Baal ^qin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^rto offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ^sthough I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ^pthis abomination, ^tto cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

36 “Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ^u‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37 ^vBehold, I will gather them from all the countries ^wto which I drove them in ^xmy anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, ^yand I will make them dwell in safety. 38 ^zAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 ^aI will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, ^bfor their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 ^cI will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. ^dAnd I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 ^eI will rejoice in doing them good, ^fand I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

42 “For thus says the Lord: ^gJust 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 ^hFields shall be bought in this land ⁱof which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; ^jit is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ 44 Fields shall be bought for money, and ^kdeeds shall be signed and ^ksealed and ^kwitnessed, ^lin the land of Benjamin, ^lin the places about Jerusalem, ^land in the cities of Judah, ^lin the cities of the hill country, ^lin the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for ^mI will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”