Jeremiah 21-36: A Translation 19
me and before you, from ancient times, yes, they prophesied to many
lands and against great kingdoms of war and evil and pestilence.^9 The
prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of the prophet comes to be,
the prophet whom Yahweh has truly sent will be known.'
(^10) Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar from upon the neck of Jere-
miah the prophet and broke it. "And Hananiah said in the presence of all the
people:
Thus said Yahweh:
Even so will'I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, within
two years' time from upon the neck of all the nations.
And Jeremiah the prophet went his way.
(^12) Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet
broke the yoke bar from upon the neck of Jeremiah the prophet:^13 Go and you
shall say to Hananiah:
Thus said Yahweh:
Yoke bars of wood you have broken, but you have made in their place yoke
bars of iron.
(^14) For thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel:
A yoke of iron I have put upon the neck of all these nations to serve Nebu-
chadnezzar, king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; even the beasts of
the field I have given to him.
(^15) And Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet: Do listen, Hananiah,
Yahweh has not sent you, and you, you have made this people trust in a lie.
(^16) Therefore thus said Yahweh:
Look I will send you away from off the face of the earth. This year you will
die, for you have spoken rebellion concerning Yahweh.
(^17) And Hananiah the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.
F. Letters to the Exiles (29:1-32)
- Bloom Where You Are Planted! (29:1-23)
29 1 And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from
Jerusalem to the remnant of the elders of the exile, and to the priests and to the
prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled from Jerusalem
to Babylon-^2 after Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother and the eunuchs,
the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the smiths had
gone out from Jerusalem-^3 by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gema-
riah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, in Babylon:
(^4) Thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled
from Jerusalem to Babylon: