Jeremiah 21-36 A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

Jeremiah 21-36: A Translation 29

Brook Kidron, up to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be

holy for Yahweh. It shall not be uprooted, and it shall not again be over-

thrown -forever.

B. Jeremiah Buys Land in Anathoth (32:1-44)

1. Why Are You Prophesying Thus? (32:1-5)
   32 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zede-
   kiah, king of Judah (that was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar).^2 At that
   time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah,
   the prophet, was confined in the court of the guard, which was in the house of
   the king of Judah,^3 because Zedekiah, king of Judah, confined him saying:
   'Why are you prophesying:
   Thus said Yahweh:
   Look I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he
   shall take it;^4 And Zedekiah, king of Judah, will not escape from the hand
   of the Chaldeans-indeed he will surely be given into the hand of the king
   of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with his mouth and his eyes shall
   see his eyes.

(^5) And to Babylon he shall make Zedekiah walk, and there he will be until
l reckon with him-oracle of Yahweh-for though you fight the Chal-
deans, you shall not succeed?'

2. The Right of Redemption is Yours (32:6-15)

(^6) And Jeremiah said, the word of Yahweh came to me: (^7) Look, Hanamel son of
Shall um, your uncle, is coming to you to say: 'Buy for yourself my field that is
in Anathoth, for the right of redemption to buy is yours.'^8 And Hanamel, son of
my uncle, came to me-according to the word of Yahweh-to the court of the
guard, and he said to me, 'Buy, would you, my field that is in Anathoth, that is
in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession is yours and the redemption
is yours. Buy it for yourself!' Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.^9 So
I bought the field from Hanamel, son of my uncle, that was in Anathoth, and I
weighed for him the silver-seventeen shekels of silver.^10 Then I wrote in the
deed, and I sealed it, and I called for witnesses, and I weighed the silver on the
two scales. l1And I took the sealed deed of purchase-the contract and the con-
ditions-also the open copy,^12 and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of
Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel, son of my uncle, and in
the presence of the witnesses who had written on the deed of purchase, and in
the presence of all the Judahites who were sitting in the court of the guard.
(^13) And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying:
(^14) Thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel: