496 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
(^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, con-
fined 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.b
(^5) ''And to Babylon he shall make Zedekiah walk, and there he will be
until I reckon with him-oracle of Yahweh-for though you fight the
Chaldeans, 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 Han-
amel, 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-seven-
teen 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. "And I
took the sealed deed of purchase-the contract and the conditions-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^0 my uncle, and in
the f resence 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:
Take these deeds-this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed-
and you shall put them in an earthenware jar in order that they may
last many days.
(^15) For thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel:
Again houses and fields and vineyards shall be bought in this land.
bReading the Q "his eyes"; Kt has a singular "his eye," which is a scribal error.
'Add "son of" with several MSS, LXX, S, and TMS; MT omits (see Notes).
cl Add the copulative with many MSS, LXX, S, and Vg.