5. Zedekiah will be taken to Babylonia, and he will remain there until I deal with him. Even if he fights the Babylonians, he will not be successful. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
6. The Lord told me
7. that Hanamel, my uncle Shallum's son, would come to me with the request to buy his field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin, because I was his nearest relative and had the right to buy it for myself.
8. Then, just as the Lord had said, Hanamel came to me there in the courtyard and asked me to buy the field. So I knew that the Lord had really spoken to me.
9. I bought the field from Hanamel and weighed out the money to him; the price came to seventeen pieces of silver.
10. I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the money on scales.
11. Then I took both copies of the deed of purchase — the sealed copy containing the contract and its conditions, and the open copy —
12. and gave them to Baruch, the son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence of Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase and of the people who were sitting in the courtyard.
13. Before them all I said to Baruch,
14. “The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, has ordered you to take these deeds, both the sealed deed of purchase and the open copy, and to place them in a clay jar, so that they may be preserved for years to come.
15. The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, has said that houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”
16. After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, I prayed,
17. “Sovereign Lord, you made the earth and the sky by your great power and might; nothing is too difficult for you.
18. You have shown constant love to thousands, but you also punish people for the sins of their parents. You are a great and powerful God; you are the Lord Almighty.
19. You make wise plans and do mighty things; you see everything that people do, and you reward them according to their actions.
20. Long ago, you performed miracles and wonders in Egypt, and you have continued to perform them to this day, both in Israel and among all the other nations, so that you are now known everywhere.
21. By means of miracles and wonders that terrified our enemies, you used your power and might to bring your people Israel out of Egypt.
22. You gave them this rich and fertile land, as you had promised their ancestors.