8. “Then it happened just as the Lord said. My cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard. Hanamel said to me, ‘Jeremiah, buy my field near the town of Anathoth, in the land of the tribe of Benjamin. Buy that land for yourself because it is your right to buy it and own it.’” So I knew that this was a message from the Lord.
9. I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out 17 shekels of silver for him.
10. I signed the deed and had a copy of the deed sealed up. I got some men to witness what I had done, and I weighed out the silver on the scales.
11. Then I took the sealed copy of the deed, which contained the demands and limits of my purchase, and the copy that was not sealed.
12. I gave the deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. I did this while my cousin Hanamel and the other witnesses were there. They also signed the deed. There were also many people of Judah sitting in the courtyard who saw me give the deed to Baruch.
13. With all the people watching, I said to Baruch,
14. “This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both copies of the deed—the sealed copy and the copy that was not sealed—and put them in a clay jar. Do this so that these deeds will last a long time.’
15. The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, ‘In the future my people will once again buy houses, fields, and vineyards in the land of Israel.’”
16. After I gave the deed to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:
17. “Lord GOD, with your great power you made the earth and the sky. There is nothing too hard for you to do.
18. You are loyal and kind to thousands of people, but you also bring punishment to children for their fathers’ sins. Great and powerful God, your name is the Lord All-Powerful.
19. You plan and do great things. You see everything that people do. You give a reward to those who do good things, and you punish those who do bad things—you give them what they deserve.
20. You have been doing powerful miracles in the land of Egypt until now, in Israel and elsewhere. You are the one who made yourself as famous as you are today.
21. You used powerful miracles and brought your people Israel out of Egypt. You used your own powerful hand to do this. Your power was amazing!
22. “You gave the Israelites this land that you promised to give to their ancestors long ago. It is a very good land filled with many good things.
23. They came into this land and took it for their own. But they didn’t obey you. They didn’t follow your teachings or do what you commanded. So you made all these terrible things happen to them.
24. “And now the enemy has surrounded the city. They are building ramps so that they can get over the walls of Jerusalem and capture it. Because of war, hunger, and disease, the city of Jerusalem will fall to the Babylonian army. The Babylonians are attacking the city now. You said this would happen, and now you see it is happening.