1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, the king of Judah. The same is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
2. It was then that the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem. And Jeremiah, the prophet, was confined to the atrium of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah.
3. For Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had confined him, saying: "Why do you make predictions, saying: 'Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it?
4. And Zedekiah, the king of Judah, will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans. Instead, he will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. And he will speak to him, mouth to mouth, and he will see him, eye to eye.
5. And he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon. And he will be there until I visit him, says the Lord. So then, if you contend against the Chaldeans, you will have no success.' "
6. And Jeremiah said: "The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
7. Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your cousin, will come to you, saying: 'Buy for yourself my field, which is in Anathoth. For it is your right, as next of kin, to buy it.'
8. And in accord with the word of the Lord, Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me, to the entrance of the prison, and he said to me: 'Take possession of my field, which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. For the right of inheritance is yours, and as the next of kin you may possess it.' Then I understood that this was the word of the Lord.
9. And I bought the field, which is in Anathoth, from Hanamel, the son of my uncle. And I weighed out the money to him, seven small coins and ten pieces of silver.
10. And I wrote it in a book and signed it, and I summoned witnesses. And I weighed out the silver on a scale.
11. And I received the signed deed of possession, and the stipulations, and the ratifications, with the exterior seals.
12. And I gave the deed of possession to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel, the son of my uncle, in the sight of the witnesses who had been recorded in the book of the purchase, and in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the atrium of the prison.
13. And I instructed Baruch, in their sight, saying:
14. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Take these writings, this sealed deed of purchase, and this deed which is open, and place them in an earthen vessel, so that they will be preserved for many days.'
15. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses, and fields, and vineyards will be possessed still, in this land.'
16. And after I had delivered the deed of possession to Baruch, the son of Neri, I prayed to the Lord, saying:
17. Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Behold, you have made heaven and earth, by your great strength and by your outstretched arm. No word is difficult for you.
18. You act with mercy a thousand-fold, but you repay the iniquity of the fathers into the sinews of their sons after them. The Lord of hosts is your name: most strong, great, and powerful!