Jeremiah bought some land

32 After Zedekiah had been ruling Judah for almost ten years, Yahweh gave me another message, during the time that Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling Babylonia for almost 18 years. 2 His army was surrounding Jerusalem, and I was in a prison area in the courtyard where the guards of the king’s palace stayed. 3 King Zedekiah had put me there. I continued to prophesy there about what would happen. I continued to say, “Yahweh says that he is about to allow the army of the king of Babylon to capture this city [DOU]. 4 And the soldiers of Babylonia will capture King Zedekiah and ◄take him to/put him in the hands of► the king of Babylon. 5 Then his soldiers will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will remain there until I arrange for him to be punished. And if he tries to fight against the soldiers from Babylonia, he will not succeed.”

6 At that time, Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 7 “Your cousin Hanamel, the son of Shallum your uncle, will come to you. He will say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, your hometown. Because you are my closest relative, it is written in our laws that you have the right to buy it before I ask if anyone else wants to buy it.’ ”

8 And just as Yahweh had predicted, my cousin Hanamel came to see me in the courtyard of the palace. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the area where the descendants of Benjamin live. It is written in our laws that you have the right to buy it before I ask if anyone else wants to buy it.” When he said that, I knew that the message that I had received was truly from Yahweh.

9 So, I bought the field at Anathoth. I paid Hanamel 17 pieces of silver for it. 10 I signed the paper/papyrus on which it was written that I was buying it, while others were watching/witnessing it. Then I weighed the silver and gave it to him. 11 Then I took two copies of the paper/papyrus. One was sealed and the other was not sealed. On both of them was written the price and conditions of the purchase. I took both copies 12 and I gave them to Baruch, who was the son of Neraiah and the grandson of Mahseiah. I did this while my cousin Hanamel, the other witnesses who had signed the paper/papyrus, and other men of Judah who were there in the courtyard, were watching.

13 Then, while they were all listening, I said to Baruch, 14 “This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom we Israelis worship, says: ‘Take both copies of this paper/papyrus and put them in a clay jar, to preserve them for a long time. 15 Do that because this is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom you Israelis worship, say: “Some day people will again own property in this land, and they will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’ ”