The Purchase

32 The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the forces of the king of Babylon were investing Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined to the guard-house of the royal palace, 3 where Zedekiah the king had shut him up on account of his prophetic preaching. "What do you mean," he had demanded, "by an announcement of this kind: ’Thus saith Jehovah, Depend upon it, I will give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 4 Nor shall Zedekiah, king of Judah, escape the hands of the Chaldeans; he will assuredly be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. He shall speak to him face to face, and see him eye to eye; 5 and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain till I visit him. Though you fight with the Chaldeans you shall have no success.’"

6 Now there came to Jeremiah the following message from Jehovah: 7 "Hanamel, the son of thine uncle Shallum, is about to pay thee a visit, to request thee to buy the land he holds at Anathoth; and he will urge that, as thou art the next of kin, it is thy privilege and duty to receive it." 8 And so it happened: my cousin Hanamel paid me in the guard-house the visit Jehovah had intimated, and said: "I want you to buy the land I possess at Anathoth; for you are the legal heir, and it is your duty to secure it – so buy it for yourself." Then I recognised that the message I had received was really from Jehovah. 9 So I bought the land at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out the money to him – seventeen silver shekels. 10 Then I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and paid him the money in full. 11 I then took the purchase-deed– the one which was sealed and the one which was open– 12 and gave it to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Machesiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, and of the witnesses who had signed the purchase-deed and of all the Jews in the guard-house. 13 In their presence I then gave these instructions to Baruch: 14 "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds – this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open – and put them in an earthenware jar, so that they may be preserved for a long time to come. 15 For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: A time is coming when houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land."