1. The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
2. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, while Jeremiah the prophet was confined to the court of the guard, in the house of the king of Judah.
3. Zedekiah, king of Judah, had confined him there, saying: “How dare you prophesy: Thus says the Lord: I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon that he may capture it.
4. Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape the hands of the Chaldeans: he shall indeed be handed over to the king of Babylon. He shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.
5. He shall take Zedekiah to Babylon. There he shall remain, until I attend to him—oracle of the Lord. If you fight against the Chaldeans, you cannot win!”
6. Jeremiah said, This word came to me from the Lord:
7. Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you with the offer: “Purchase my field in Anathoth, since you, as nearest relative, have the first right of purchase.”
8. And, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard and said, “Please purchase my field in Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin; as nearest relative, you have the first right of possession—purchase it for yourself.” Then I knew this was the word of the Lord.
9. So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, weighing out for him the silver, seventeen shekels of silver.
10. When I had written and sealed the deed, called witnesses and weighed out the silver on the scales,
11. I accepted the deed of purchase, both the sealed copy, containing title and conditions, and the open copy.
12. I gave this deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase and before all the Judahites sitting around in the court of the guard.
13. In their presence I gave Baruch this charge:
14. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds of purchase, both the sealed and the open deeds, and put them in an earthenware jar, so they can last a long time.
15. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: They shall again purchase houses and fields and vineyards in this land.
16. After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:
17. Ah, my Lord God! You made the heavens and the earth with your great power and your outstretched arm; nothing is too difficult for you.