Jeremiah 32–33: The Field at Anathoth: "Is Anything Too Difficult for Me?

This 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. At 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.

For 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. Zedekiah 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. He 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.’ ”

Jeremiah replied, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Behold! 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.’ Then, 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.

So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. Then I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy with its terms and conditions, as well as the open copy— and 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.

In their sight I instructed Baruch, “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. For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”

After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD: “Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!

You 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, the 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.

You 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.

You 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. You gave them this land that you had sworn to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

They 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. See 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!

Yet 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!’ ”

Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me?

Therefore 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. And 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.

For 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.

For this city has aroused my wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. Therefore I will remove it from my presence because 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. They 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.

They have placed their abominations in the house that bears my Name, and so have defiled it. They 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.

Now 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: I 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. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I 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.

I 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. Yes, 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.

For 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. And 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.’ Fields 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.”

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is his name: Call to me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in my anger and in my wrath. I have hidden my face from this city because of all its wickedness.

Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. I will restore Judah and Israel from captivity and will rebuild them as in former times. And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.

So this city will bring me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.

This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying:

For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD.

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.

For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.”

And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “This is what the LORD says: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time, then my covenant may also be broken with David my servant and with my ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne. As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.”

Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families he had chosen’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the LORD says: If I have not established my covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.”