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Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles in Babylon

29 These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.(A) The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:(B) Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.(C) But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.(D) For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you dream,(E) for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.(F)

10 For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.(G) 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.(H) 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.(I) 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,(J) 14 I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.(K)

15 Because you have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” 16 thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your kinsfolk who did not go out with you into exile:(L) 17 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to let loose on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.(M) 18 I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of cursing and horror and hissing and a derision among all the nations where I have driven them,(N) 19 because they did not heed my words, says the Lord, when I persistently sent to them my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, says the Lord.(O) 20 But now, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of the Lord:(P) 21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: I am going to deliver them into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes. 22 And on account of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,”(Q) 23 because they have perpetrated outrage in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them; I am the one who knows and bears witness, says the Lord.(R)

The Letter of Shemaiah

24 To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: 25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: In your own name you sent letters to all the people who are in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to all the priests, saying,(S) 26 The Lord himself has made you priest instead of the priest Jehoiada, so that there may be officers in the house of the Lord to control any madman who plays the prophet, to put him in the stocks and the collar.(T) 27 So now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who plays the prophet for you? 28 For he has actually sent to us in Babylon, saying, “It will be a long time; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat what they produce.”

29 The priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah. 30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31 Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has led you to trust in a lie,(U) 32 therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants; he shall not have anyone living among this people to see[a] the good that I am going to do to my people, says the Lord, for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.(V)

Restoration Promised for Israel and Judah

30 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.(W) For the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they shall take possession of it.(X)

These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah:

Thus says the Lord:
We have heard a cry of panic,
    of terror, and no peace.(Y)
Ask now and see:
    Can a man bear a child?
Why then do I see every man
    with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor?
    Why has every face turned pale?(Z)
Alas! that day is so great
    there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob,
    yet he shall be rescued from it.(AA)

On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and strangers shall no more make a servant of him.(AB) But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.(AC)

10 But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob, says the Lord,
    and do not be dismayed, O Israel,
for I am going to save you from far away
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and no one shall make him afraid.(AD)
11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you;
I will make an end of all the nations
    among which I scattered you,
    but of you I will not make an end.
I will chastise you in just measure,
    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.(AE)

12 For thus says the Lord:
Your hurt is incurable;
    your wound is grievous.(AF)
13 There is no one to uphold your cause,
    no medicine for your wound,
    no healing for you.(AG)
14 All your lovers have forgotten you;
    they care nothing for you,
for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
    the punishment of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
    because your sins are so numerous.(AH)
15 Why do you cry out over your hurt?
    Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
    because your sins are so numerous,
    I have done these things to you.
16 Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
    and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
those who plunder you shall be plundered,
    and all who prey on you I will make a prey.(AI)
17 For I will restore health to you,
    and your wounds I will heal,
            says the Lord,
because they have called you an outcast:
    “It is Zion; no one cares for her!”(AJ)

18 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound
    and the citadel set on its rightful site.(AK)
19 Out of them shall come thanksgiving
    and the sound of merrymakers.
I will make them many, and they shall not be few;
    I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained.(AL)
20 Their children shall be as of old;
    their congregation shall be established before me,
    and I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their prince shall be one of their own;
    their ruler shall come from their midst;
I will bring him near, and he shall approach me,
    for who would otherwise dare to approach me?
            says the Lord.(AM)
22 And you shall be my people,
    and I will be your God.(AN)

23 Look, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling[b] tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.(AO)
24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and accomplished
    the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand this.(AP)

The Joyful Return of the Exiles

31 At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.(AQ)

Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
    found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,(AR)
    the Lord appeared to him[c] from far away.[d]
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.(AS)
Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
    O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with your tambourines
    and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.(AT)
Again you shall plant vineyards
    on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
    and shall enjoy the fruit.(AU)
For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
    in the hill country of Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.”(AV)

For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    “Save, O Lord, your people,
    the remnant of Israel.”(AW)
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north
    and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
    those with child and those in labor together;
    a great company, they shall return here.(AX)
With weeping they shall come,
    and with consolations[e] I will lead them back;
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
    in a straight path where they shall not stumble,
for I have become a father to Israel,
    and Ephraim is my firstborn.(AY)

10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him
    and will keep him as a shepherd does a flock.”(AZ)
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
    and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.(BA)
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
    and they shall never languish again.(BB)
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.[f]
I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.(BC)
14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
    and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
            says the Lord.(BD)

15 Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
    she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    because they are no more.(BE)
16 Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping
    and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
            says the Lord:
    they shall come back from the land of the enemy;(BF)
17 there is hope for your future,
            says the Lord:
    your children shall come back to their own country.(BG)

18 Indeed, I heard Ephraim pleading:
“You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;
    I was like an untrained calf.
Bring me back; let me come back,
    for you are the Lord my God.(BH)
19 For after I had turned away I repented,
    and after I was discovered, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was dismayed
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”(BI)
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
    Is he the child in whom I delight?
As often as I speak against him,
    I still remember him.
Therefore I am deeply moved for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
            says the Lord.(BJ)

21 Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself signposts;
consider well the highway,
    the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.(BK)
22 How long will you waver,
    O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encompasses[g] a man.

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 towns when I restore their fortunes:

“The Lord bless you, O abode of righteousness,
    O holy hill!”(BL)

24 And Judah and all its towns shall live there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.(BM)

25 I will satisfy the weary,
    and all who are faint I will replenish.(BN)

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

Individual Retribution

27 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.(BO) 28 And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.(BP) 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”(BQ)

30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of the one who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.(BR)

A New Covenant

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.(BS) 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.(BT) 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.(BU) 34 No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.(BV)

35 Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun for light by day
    and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name:(BW)
36 If this fixed order were ever to cease
    from my presence, says the Lord,
then also the offspring of Israel would cease
    to be a nation before me forever.(BX)

37 Thus says the Lord:
If the heavens above can be measured
    and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will reject all the offspring of Israel
    because of all they have done,
            says the Lord.(BY)

Jerusalem to Be Enlarged

38 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.(BZ) 39 And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.(CA)

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah,(CB) where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, “Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;(CC) King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans but shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye,(CD) and he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I attend to him, says the Lord; though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?”(CE)

Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ”(CF) Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth 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.

And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out the silver to him, seventeen shekels of silver.(CG) 10 I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the silver on scales.(CH) 11 Then I took the sealed deed of purchase containing the terms and conditions and the open copy,(CI) 12 and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin[h] Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.(CJ) 13 In their presence I charged Baruch, 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 jar, in order that they may last for a long time. 15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”(CK)

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

16 After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: 17 “Ah Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.(CL) 18 You show steadfast love to the thousandth generation[i] but repay the guilt of parents into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of hosts,(CM) 19 great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of mortals, rewarding all according to their ways and according to the fruit of their doings.(CN) 20 You showed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day in Israel and among all humankind and have made yourself a name that continues to this very day.(CO) 21 You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror,(CP) 22 and you gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey,(CQ) 23 and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or follow your laws; of all you commanded them to do, they did nothing. Therefore you have made all these disasters come upon them.(CR) 24 See, the siege ramps have been cast up against the city to take it, and the city, faced with sword, famine, and pestilence, has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has happened, as you yourself can see.(CS) 25 Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for silver and get witnesses,’ though the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

26 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 See, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?(CT) 28 Therefore, thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall take it.(CU) 29 The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come, set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and libations have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger.(CV) 30 For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; the people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says the Lord.(CW) 31 This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built until this day, so that I will remove it from my sight(CX) 32 because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.(CY) 33 They have turned their backs to me, not their faces; though I have taught them persistently, they would not listen and accept correction.(CZ) 34 They set up their abominations in the house that bears my name and defiled it.(DA) 35 They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter my mind that they should do this abomination, causing Judah to sin.(DB)

36 Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, “It is being given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence”: 37 See, I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them back to this place, and I will settle them in safety.(DC) 38 They shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for all time, for their own good and the good of their children after them.(DD) 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them, never to draw back from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.(DE)

42 For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good fortune that I now promise them.(DF) 43 Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, “It is a desolation, without humans or animals; it has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.” 44 Fields shall be bought for silver, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, of the hill country, of the Shephelah, and of the Negeb, for I will restore their fortunes, says the Lord.(DG)

Footnotes

  1. 29.32 Gk: Heb and he shall not see
  2. 30.23 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 31.3 Gk: Heb me
  4. 31.3 Or to him long ago
  5. 31.9 Gk: Heb supplications
  6. 31.13 Cn: Heb old together
  7. 31.22 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  8. 32.12 Gk Syr Vg: Heb my uncle
  9. 32.18 Or to thousands