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Jeremiah 32

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Jeremiah Imprisoned During the Siege 1–5

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The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ​
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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. ​
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For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
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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;
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and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Jehovah: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?

The Symbolic Purchase of the Field 6–15

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And Jeremiah said, The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
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Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. ​
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So Hanamel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah. ​
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And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel mine uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. ​
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And I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. ​
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So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, according to the law and custom, and that which was open:
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and I delivered the deed of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel mine 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.
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And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
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Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God 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. ​
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For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land. ​

Jeremiah's Prayer of Faith and Doubt 16–25

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Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto Jehovah, saying,
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Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for thee, ​
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who showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty God, Jehovah of hosts is his name;
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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;
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who didst set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, both in Israel and among other men; and madest thee a name, as at this day;
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and didst bring forth thy 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;
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and gavest them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
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and they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them. ​
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Behold, the mounds, they are come unto 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 thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it. ​
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And thou hast said unto me, O Lord Jehovah, Buy thee the field for money, and call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. ​

The Lord's Answer: Judgment Confirmed, Restoration Promised 26–36

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Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying,
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Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me? ​
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Therefore thus saith Jehovah: 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:
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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 unto Baal, and poured out drink-offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger. ​
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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, saith Jehovah.
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For this city hath been to me a provocation of mine anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,
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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.
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And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
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But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
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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 unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. ​
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And now therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:

The Promise of Everlasting Covenant 37–44

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Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. ​
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And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: ​
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and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: ​
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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. ​
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Yea, 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. ​
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For thus saith Jehovah: 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. ​
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And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
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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 Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith Jehovah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 32

Verse 1

the tenth year of Zedekiah… the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar — Judah's reckoning and Babylon's are given side by side. The siege had begun 'in the ninth year of Zedekiah… in the tenth month' (39:1) and the city was 'broken up' in the eleventh (39:2), so this word comes late in the siege.

Verse 2

shut up in the court of the prison — The reason is given in vv.3–5: Zedekiah shut him up for saying the city would be given 'into the hand of the king of Babylon'. The court lay in 'the king of Judah's house', and Jeremiah 'abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken' (38:28).

Verse 7

the right of redemption — This is the kinsman's duty to buy back a field sold from the family: 'if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold' (Lev 25:25). Anathoth in Benjamin was Jeremiah's own town (1:1). The LORD announces the offer before it is made: 'Hanameel… shall come unto thee'.

Verse 8

Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD — The announcement of v.7 is met exactly: Hanameel 'came to me in the court of the prison' with the offer. Two claims are named, 'the right of inheritance' and 'the redemption', and both fall to Jeremiah. The sign confirms the command; the prayer that follows (v.25) sets the purchase beside the city's fall.

Verse 9

weighed him the money — Silver was paid by weight: shaqal, to weigh, gives the sheqel. So Abraham 'weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named… four hundred shekels' for the field and cave of Machpelah (Gen 23:16). Jeremiah's purchase of 'seventeen shekels of silver' is made in the same way.

Verse 10

I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it — The 'evidence' is sepher, a written document, the word usually rendered 'book'; v.12 calls it 'the book of the purchase'. Two copies are made, 'sealed' and 'open' (v.11), with witnesses signing. The same acts are named again in v.44, when 'men shall buy fields for money'.

Verse 14

in an earthen vessel — The sealed and the open deeds are put in a clay jar 'that they may continue many days'. The length of the exile is given elsewhere: 'seventy years' (25:11), 'after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon' (29:10), 'I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you'.

Verse 15

shall be possessed again — The verb is qanah, 'to buy', the same word as in vv.7–9 and 25; here it is passive, 'shall be bought'. The purchase is the pledge of the promise, repeated in v.43: 'fields shall be bought in this land'. Amos names the same restored life: 'they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof' (Amos 9:14).

Verse 17

nothing too hard for thee — Pala, to be wonderful or too difficult, the verb of Gen 18:14, 'Is any thing too hard for the LORD?', asked at the promise of Isaac. Jeremiah begins his prayer from creation, 'the heaven and the earth', and the LORD returns the word in v.27. 'Stretched out arm' recurs in v.21 for the Exodus.

Verse 23

they came in, and possessed it — The verb is yarash, the word of taking the land. Moses had warned that those who 'go over Jordan to possess it' would 'soon utterly perish from off the land' if they transgressed (Deut 4:26), and Joshua repeated it (Josh 23:15–16). 'Obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law' is confessed in the same terms in Dan 9:10.

Verse 24

the mounts — Solelah, a mound thrown up against a city wall, as the LORD ordered in 6:6, 'cast a mount against Jerusalem'. Sword, famine and pestilence are the threefold judgment Jeremiah had named before (14:12; 21:9), and 'what thou hast spoken is come to pass' points back to vv.3–5.

Verse 25

Buy thee the field for money — Jeremiah sets the command beside the facts in a single sentence: the purchase he made (vv.8–10) and the city 'given into the hand of the Chaldeans' (also v.24). The LORD's reply, vv.26–44, answers both: the city will be given (v.28), and fields will be bought again (v.43).

Verse 27

the God of all flesh — The LORD takes up Jeremiah's 'nothing too hard for thee' (v.17) and asks it of himself in the same word, pala. 'All flesh' is all mankind (Ps 65:2, 'unto thee shall all flesh come'): the title stands over Judah and over the Chaldeans to whom he gives the city (v.28).

Verse 29

upon whose roofs… incense unto Baal — The charge is made in 19:13, of houses 'upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven'; Zephaniah has 'them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops' (Zeph 1:5). The sentence is carried out in 52:13: 'all the houses of Jerusalem… burned he with fire'.

Verse 35

the valley of the son of Hinnom — This is the place where children passed 'through the fire unto Molech', forbidden in Lev 18:21. The LORD says of it, 'neither came it into my mind' (7:31 has 'heart') and renames it 'The valley of slaughter' (19:6). The Hebrew Ge Hinnom is the source of the Greek Gehenna, rendered 'hell fire' in Matt 5:22.

Verse 37

gather them out of all countries — The one who drove them out 'in mine anger' is the one who gathers. Qabats, to gather, is the verb of 23:3, 'I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them'. 'Dwell safely' (betach) is said again of Israel in 23:6 and of Jerusalem in 33:16.

Verse 38

they shall be my people, and I will be their God — The covenant formula first given in the law: 'I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people' (Lev 26:12). It is repeated through the prophets (24:7; Ezek 37:27) and stands at the end of Scripture: 'they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them' (Rev 21:3).

Verse 39

one heart, and one way — 'Way' (derek) is the course of a life; the promise is one mind and one conduct, and it is given: 'I will give them'. Ezekiel states it in the same terms, 'I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you' (Ezek 11:19). The believers in Jerusalem were 'of one heart and of one soul' (Acts 4:32).

Verse 40

an everlasting covenant — The Hebrew is berit olam. Jeremiah elsewhere calls it 'a new covenant' (31:31); Ezekiel, 'a covenant of peace… an everlasting covenant' (Ezek 37:26). Both sides are secured by the LORD: he will 'not turn away from them', and puts 'my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me'.

Verse 41

I will rejoice over them to do them good — Sus, to rejoice, is said of the LORD over his people also in Zeph 3:17 and Isa 62:5. 'Plant' returns the terms of Jeremiah's own call, 'to root out, and to pull down… to build, and to plant' (1:10). 'Assuredly' is emet, in truth, and the pledge is 'with my whole heart and with my whole soul'.

Verse 42

all the good that I have promised — One verb, 'bring' (bo), carries both halves of the verse. Joshua had said the same: 'as all good things are come upon you… so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil' (Josh 23:15). The evil has come as foretold (v.23); the good rests on the same word, as 31:28 pairs plucking up with building and planting.

Verse 44

Men shall buy fields for money — What Jeremiah did alone in v.10 becomes the practice of the whole land: 'subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses'. The regions named run from Benjamin, where Anathoth lies, through Judah, the mountains, the valley and the south, and the ground is given: 'for I will cause their captivity to return'.