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Jeremiah 29
Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2 (after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem.) 3 by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,) saying, 4 In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:5 Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 6 Take wives, and procreate sons and daughters: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and be not diminished. 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in the peace of it shall you have peace. 8 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the middle of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them, says Yahweh. 10 For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end. 12 And you shall call upon me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh; and I will bring you again to the place where I caused you to be carried away captive.
15 Because you have said, Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon; 16 thus says Yahweh concerning the king that sits upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people that dwell in this city, your brethren that have not gone forth with you into captivity; 17 thus says Yahweh of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten they are so bad. 18 And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them; 19 because they have not listened to my words, says Yahweh, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says Yahweh. 20 Hear therefore the word of Yahweh, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes; 22 and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; 23 because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I commanded them not; and I am he that knows, and am witness, says Yahweh.
24 And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25 In this manner speaks Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Yahweh, for every man that is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. 27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you, 28 Since he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long: build houses, and dwell in them? and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying, 31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, In this manner says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because that Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I sent him not, and he has caused you to trust in a lie; 32 therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he behold the good that I will do to my people, says Yahweh, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.
Jeremiah 30
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 In this manner speaks Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, saying, Write for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3 For, lo, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says Yahweh; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
4 And these are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For thus says Yahweh: We have heard a voice of trembling; of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 8 And it shall come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers shall no more make him their bondman; 9 but they shall serve Yahweh their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10 Therefore fear not, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and no one shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no wise leave you unpunished.
12 For thus says Yahweh, Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous. 13 There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines. 14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they seek you not: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased. 15 Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you. 16 Therefore all they that devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that plunder you shall be a plunder, and all that prey upon you will I give for a prey. 17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heat you of your wounds, says Yahweh; because they have called you an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.
18 In this manner says Yahweh: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be built upon its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited after its own manner. 19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. 20 Their children also shall be as before time, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all that oppress them. 21 And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the middle of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me: for who is he that has had boldness to approach to me? says Yahweh. 22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your Elohim.
23 Behold, the tempest of Yahweh, even his wrath, has gone forth, a sweeping tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of Yahweh shall not return, until he has executed, and till he has performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it.
Jeremiah 31
At that time, says Yahweh, will I be the Elohim of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2 In this manner says Yahweh, The people that were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 3 Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you. 4 Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: again shall you be adorned with your tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry. 5 Again shall you plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit of it. 6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our Elohim.
7 For thus says Yahweh, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, O Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel. 8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the utmost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travails with child together: a great company shall they return here. 9 They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.
10 Hear the word of Yahweh, O you nations, and declare it in the isles far off; and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock. 11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. 12 And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow anymore at all. 13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Yahweh.
15 In this manner says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not. 16 In this manner says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17 And there is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and your children shall come again to their own border. 18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my Elohim. 19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says Yahweh.
21 Set yourself up waymarks, make yourself guide-posts; set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities. 22 How long will you go here and there, O you backsliding daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: A woman shall encompass a man.
23 In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities of it, when I shall bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness. 24 And Judah and all the cities of it shall dwell in it together, the husbandmen, and they that go about with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I replenished. 26 Upon this I awoke, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh. 29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. 30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people: 34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
35 In this manner says Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that the waves of it roar; Yahweh of hosts is his name: 36 If these ordinances depart from before me, says Yahweh, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. 37 In this manner says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh.
38 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city shall be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. 39 And the measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down anymore forever.
Jeremiah 32
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2 Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why did you prophesy, and say, In this manner says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; 4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes; 5 and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, says Yahweh: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper?
6 And Jeremiah said, The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. 8 So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Yahweh, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh. 9 And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. 10 And I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. 11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, according to the law and custom, and that which was open: 12 and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the guard. 13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying, 14 In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days. 15 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land.
16 Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying, 17 Ah Sovereign Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for you, 18 who shows lovingkindness to thousands, and recompenses the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty El, Yahweh of hosts is his name; 19 great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings; 20 who set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men; and made you a name, as at this day; 21 and brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22 and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; 23 and they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not your voice, neither walked in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them. 24 Behold, the mounds, they have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what you have spoken has come to pass; and, behold, you see it. 25 And you have said to me, O Sovereign Yahweh, Buy yourself the field for money, and call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying, 27 Behold, I am Yahweh, the Elohim of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? 28 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: 29 and the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink-offerings to other elohim, to provoke me to anger. 30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh. 31 For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before my face, 32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned to me the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36 And now therefore thus says Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, concerning this city, of which you say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: 37 Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries, where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 and they shall be my people; and I will be their Elohim: 39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me. 41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42 For thus says Yahweh: Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. 43 And fields shall be bought in this land, of which you say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given to the hand of the Chaldeans. 44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, says Yahweh.
