Jeremiah 32
Jerusalem under attack
Babylon army at gates of Jerusalem
1God sent a message to Jeremiah. He did it when Judah’s King Zedekiah was 10 years [1] into his reign and Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar was 18 years into his reign. 2Jerusalem was under attack. Babylon’s army had it surrounded and was fighting to get inside. By then, Jerusalem’s palace guards had arrested Jeremiah. They held him in a palace courtyard. 3That’s where King Zedekiah wanted him.The king asked him, “Why did you prophesy against us? You said, ‘This message is from the LORD: I’m giving this city to the king of Babylon. And he’s going to take it. 4Judah’s King Zedekiah will be captured and handed over to Babylon’s king. The two kings will stand face to face and eye to eye. 5Babylon’s king will take Zedekiah captive to Babylon, where he will stay until he dies. Though you will fight Babylon, you will lose.’”
Jeremiah’s defense
6Jeremiah said, “I had another message from the LORD. 7He said my cousin Hanamel, son of my Uncle Shallum, is coming to offer me a piece of land. He’ll say, ‘I need to sell my field at the town of Anathoth. [2] Since you’re a relative, you get priority so we can keep it in the family.’ [3]8Well, that’s what happened. My cousin came to me here, while I was under arrest. He said, ‘I need you to buy my field at Anathothin the tribal territory of Benjamin. You have the right to buy it for yourself.’ This confirmed that the message I heard from the LORD was genuine.
Land sale during an invasion
9I bought the Anathoth field from cousin Hanamel. I paid him the full price of 17 silver shekels. [4] 10I signed the deed of purchase and sealed [5] it in the presence of witnesses. I weighed the silver and paid the sale price. 11I had the deed along with an unsealed copy, which allowed others to review the terms of the agreement.12I took them both to a scribe named Baruch [6] son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I also took the witnesses who watched me sign the deed and pay for the field while I was under arrest in the palace. 13I gave Baruch these instructions.
14‘This is what the LORD of everyone and the God of Israel says you should do: Take both copies of this deed and put them in a clay jar for long-term storage. 15The LORD of everyone and the God of Israel says this isn’t the end of our story. One day people will again be able to buy and sell homes and farms in this land.’”
Jeremiah complains to God
16After I gave the deed to Baruch, I prayed to the LORD.17“LORD God, I see your power in the earth and sky, for you created it all. Nothing is too hard for you. 18You’ll show a thousand generations how much you love them. But you’ll punish children for the sins of their parents. You are the LORD of everyone, a powerful God. 19You’re a wise God with big plans that you’ll make happen. You see what people do. And you give them what they deserve.
20You showed your miraculous power in Egypt, as you have continued to do in Israel even today. People know you by your name and the strength it represents. 21You unleased your awesome and terrifying power in Egypt, when you freed your people from slavery there.
22You gave this land to those refugees—our ancestors. You told them here is where milk and honey flow like rivers. 23So they came and took it. After they got what they wanted, they did what they wanted. They ignored your instructions, refused your orders, and broke your laws. So, you hammered them with disasters.
24Jerusalem is already suffering from starvation and disease because of this siege. Babylonians have already built their siege ramps for storming over the city walls. It’s obvious now that the city is going to fall, just like you said it would. 25Yet you told me to buy that field with silver and make sure witnesses saw it. You had me do this even though we’re about to lose the city and the war.”
When God gets angry
26The LORD told Jeremiah:27I’m the LORD, the God over everyone walking around with skin and bones. Is there anything too hard for me? 28So this is what I’m going to do. I’m giving this city to Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. This is a gift he’s going to accept.
29The Babylonian invaders attacking this city right now are going to set it on fire. They're going to burn down houses where people today use their rooftops as shrines to Baal [7] and other gods. Sacrifices they offered there made me angry. 30The people of both kingdoms, Israel and Judah, have done nothing but disobey me from the beginning of their existence. All Israel has done is to make me angry.
31This city makes me angry, too. It has been like that from the day these people built it until today. So that's it. I'm going to get this eyesore out of my sight. 32And I'm doing it because of everything all these wretched people of Israel and Judah did to make me angry. I'm talking about everyone, including the kings and their officials, the priests, prophets, citizens of Jerusalem, and everyone else in Judah. 33These people don't come to me. They leave me. I have persistently tried to teach them what to do. But they are not teachable. I have tried to correct them. But they are incorrigible.
34They have set up idols in the Temple that everyone knows is my home. They defile that sacred space. 35They covered my hilltops with shrines to Baal. And in Hinnom Valley [8] they sacrificed their own children to the god Molech. [9] I didn't tell them to do that. I would never have told them to do something like that. It’s a revolting sin that scars Judah.
God: Israel isn’t finished
36This is what the LORD and God of Israel says about Jerusalem. You have been saying that this city is going to fall into the hands of Babylon because of starvation, disease, and Babylon’s attack. 37I’m going to drive the people of Israel out of this land. All they do is sin and make me angry. But the time is coming when I’ll gather them from the scattered nations. I’ll bring them back to this land and I’ll settle them here in safety and in peace.38They will become my people, and I will be their God. 39After all that’s happening now, they will become united in their devotion toward me. They’ll respect me and follow my direction. They’ll do it for their own sake and for the sake of the generations to come.
40I’ll make an agreement with them—a covenant that will last forever. I’ll never stop doing good for them. I’ll place within them a deep respect for me. They’ll never again walk away from me. 41It’ll be my great pleasure to do good things for them. I’ll replant them in this land and faithfully back them up in what they do.
42This is the LORD talking and I want you to know that just as I have brought this disaster on these people, one day I will turn everything around into a wonderful experience. That's my promise. 43You’ve been saying Babylonians are conquering this land and will turn it into a wasteland without humans or animals. But I'm telling you that people will buy fields in this land again.
44They’ll pay silver for these fields. People will again sign, seal, and witness deeds in the tribe of Benjamin. And they’ll do the same in towns around Jerusalem, in cities throughout Judah, in the northland hills, in the central foothills, and in the Negev badlands of the south. I’ll make everything better than ever.
Footnotes
About 587 BC. Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. So the setting is the end of the last surviving Jewish kingdom: Judah. Babylon erased the Israelite nation from the world map. The survivors scattered. There weren’t enough left to reconstitute the nation.
Anathoth was about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) northeast of the Jerusalem Temple. Perhaps Jeremiah’s cousin was selling out and hoping to escape the coming slaughter. Family did have priority when land went up for sale. The idea in Israel’s early history was to keep the tribal boundaries stable. But King Solomon changed that when he created districts run by people he appointed. Tribal leadership lost most of its political muscle.
Tell that to the Babylonian army possibly camped there at the time.
About 7 ounces, which is 196 grams. One silver shekel was worth about a month’s wage for the average working man, according to some scholars. Shekels came in different weights. It’s unclear how much these shekels weighed. There was a heavy shekel that weighed about 11.5 grams or .4 ounces. This was sometimes called the King’s Shekel or the Royal Shekel. Some scholars say this was also the weight used in the Israelite worship center and later in the Jerusalem Temple. The lighter shekel weighed about 9.5 grams or .33 ounces. Some scholars say this was probably the shekel accepted at the worship center.
Important documents were often written on a leather that was rolled up or papyrus that was folded and tied shut with string. Then a plug of clay was pressed into the string and stamped with the owner’s signet ring or seal. Anyone reading the message had to break the clay plug, which dried quickly.
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem showcases a clay plug stamped with the name of Baruch son of Neriah. Most biblical archaeologists today seem to agree that it’s a forgery. Others say they disagree.
Baal was a god of fertility in family, fields, and flocks. Canaanites, who were native to what is now Israel and Palestinian land, worshiped Baal. Joshua led the Jews in killing many Canaanites while the Jews reclaimed the land that the Bible says God promised to the descendants of Abraham. But Jews continued to worship Baal and other Middle Eastern gods off and on throughout Old Testament times.
The valley was on the south side of Jerusalem.
Scholars debate who or what Molech was and whether children were literally sacrificed or perhaps figuratively presented to Molech and dedicated to him. Many scholars say Molech was a god, because of the way Bible writers describe people prostituting themselves to Molech (Leviticus 20:5). Most scholars seem to agree that some people of Israel built shrines to Baal where they burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to Molech (Jeremiah 32:35).
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
art by James Tissot
