2. At that time, the Babylonian army had surrounded Jerusalem, and I was in the prison at the courtyard of the palace guards.
3. Zedekiah had ordered me to be held there because I told everyone that the Lord had said:I am the Lord, and I am about to let the king of Babylonia conquer Jerusalem.
4. King Zedekiah will be captured and taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who will speak with him face to face.
5. Then Zedekiah will be led away to Babylonia, where he will stay until I have finished with him. So, if you people of Judah fight against the Babylonians, you will lose. I, the Lord, have spoken.
6. Later, when I was in prison, the Lord said:
7. Jeremiah, your cousin Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will visit you. He must sell his field near the town of Anathoth, and because you are his nearest relative, you have the right and the responsibility to buy it and keep it in the family.
8. Hanamel came, just as the Lord had promised. And he said, “Please buy my field near Anathoth in the territory of the Benjamin tribe. You have the right to buy it, and if you do, it will stay in our family.”The Lord had told me to buy it
9. from Hanamel, and so I did. The price was seventeen pieces of silver, and I weighed out the full amount on a scale.
10-11. I had two copies of the bill of sale written out, each containing all the details of our agreement. Some witnesses and I signed the official copy, which was folded and tied, before being sealed shut with hot wax. Then I gave Hanamel the silver.
12. And while he, the witnesses, and all the other Jews sitting in the courtyard were still watching, I gave both copies to Baruch son of Neriah.
13-14. I told Baruch that the Lord had said:Take both copies of this bill of sale, one sealed shut and the other open, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.
15. I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and I promise you that people will once again buy and sell houses, farms, and vineyards in this country.
16. Then I prayed:
17. Lord God, you stretched out your mighty arm and made the sky and the earth. You can do anything.
18. You show kindness for a thousand generations, but you also punish people for the sins of their parents. You are the Lord All-Powerful.
19. With great wisdom you make plans, and with your great power you do all the mighty things you planned. Nothing we do is hidden from your eyes, and you reward or punish us as we deserve.
20. You are famous because you worked miracles in Egypt, and you are still working them in Israel and in the rest of the world as well.
21. You terrified the Egyptians with your miracles, and you reached out your mighty arm and rescued your people Israel from Egypt.
22. Then you gave Israel this land rich with milk and honey, just as you had promised our ancestors.
23. But when our ancestors took over the land, they did not obey you. And now you have punished Israel with disaster.