Jeremiah 32 · WEB
Jeremiah Buys a Field
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
Tap a verse to copy it, open the Hebrew, or write a note.
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
2Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house.
3For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, "Why do you prophesy, and say, 'Yahweh says, "Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;
4and Zedekiah king of Judah won't escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes;
5and he will bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him," says Yahweh. "Though you fight with the Chaldeans, you won't prosper"'?"
6Jeremiah said, "Yahweh's word came to me, saying,
7'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, "Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it."'
8So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to Yahweh's word, and said to me, 'Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was Yahweh's word.
9"I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
10I signed the deed, sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the money in the balances.
11So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open;
12and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.
13"I commanded Baruch before them, saying,
14'Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: "Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days."
15For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: "Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land."'"
16Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying,
17"Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.
18You show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God, Yahweh of Armies is his name;
19great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
20You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men; and have made yourself a name, as it is today.
21You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, with wonders, with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, and with great terror.
22You gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
23They came in and possessed it, but they didn't obey your voice and didn't walk in your law. They have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore you have caused all this evil to come on them.
24"Behold, the mounds! They have come to the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence. What you have spoken has happened. Behold, you see it.
25You have said to me, Lord Yahweh, 'Buy the field for money, and call witnesses,' although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans."
26Then Yahweh's word came to Jeremiah, saying,
27"Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?
28"Therefore Yahweh says, 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.
29The Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
30For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands,' says Yahweh.
31'For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day, so that I should remove it from before my face,
32because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger — they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33They have turned their back to me, and not their face. Though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.
34But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
35They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I didn't command them. It didn't come into my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.'
36"Now therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says concerning this city, about which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:'
37'Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my wrath, and in great indignation. I will bring them again to this place. I will cause them to dwell safely.
38They will be my people, and I will be their God.
39I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good and for the good of their children after them.
40I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.
41Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with my whole heart and with my whole soul.'
42"For Yahweh says: 'Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.
43Fields will be bought in this land, about which you say, "It is desolate, without man or animal. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans."
44Men will buy fields for money, sign the deeds, seal them, call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed,' says Yahweh."
✶
Summary
Jeremiah 32 is one of the most remarkable acts of faith in the Bible. While Jerusalem is under active Babylonian siege and Jeremiah himself is imprisoned for prophesying the city's fall, God tells him to buy a field in Anathoth — enemy-occupied territory. Jeremiah obeys, completing the full legal transaction with silver, sealed deeds, witnesses, and his scribe Baruch. Then he prays — honestly confessing his bewilderment: "You told me the city would fall, and now you tell me to buy property?" God's answer echoes Jeremiah's own prayer: "Is there anything too hard for me?" God confirms that Jerusalem will burn, recounts the long history of sin that led here, and then pivots to breathtaking promises: an everlasting covenant, one heart and one way, God rejoicing to do them good "with my whole heart and with my whole soul." Fields will be bought again in this land. The deed in the clay jar is a down payment on the future.
Themes
- Faith as action — buying a field during a siege as a prophetic declaration of hope
- Nothing too hard for God — the impossible becomes possible through divine promise
- The everlasting covenant — God binding himself never to turn away from his people
- God's wholehearted joy — God will rejoice over his people with his whole heart and soul
Key verses
- Jer 32:15 — “Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.”
- Jer 32:17 — “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.”
- Jer 32:27 — “Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?”
- Jer 32:40-41 — “I will make an everlasting covenant with them... I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”
Context & background
The date is 588 BC — the tenth year of Zedekiah, the eighteenth of Nebuchadnezzar — and the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (modern Jerusalem, Israel) is in full progress. Jeremiah is imprisoned in the "court of the guard" within the royal palace compound for his "treasonous" preaching. Anathoth (modern Anata in the West Bank, Palestine, about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem) was Jeremiah's hometown and already behind Babylonian lines. The transaction follows Levitical law: a relative's field must be redeemed by the nearest kinsman to keep land within the family (Leviticus 25:25-28, Ruth 4:1-6). The double deed — one sealed and one open — was standard ancient Near Eastern legal practice; sealed copies were stored for security while open copies allowed public verification. Placing deeds in clay jars for preservation (v. 14) is the same practice that preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls two millennia. God's statement that he will do good "with my whole heart and with my whole soul" (v. 41) is extraordinary — this is the language of the *Shema* (Deut 6:5) that Israel was supposed to use in loving God, now applied to God's love for Israel.
Cross-references
- Genesis 18:14 — "Is anything too hard for Yahweh?" — the original form of the question, spoken to Abraham
- Jeremiah 31:31-34 — The new covenant promise, here expanded as the "everlasting covenant" of verse 40
- Leviticus 25:25-28 — The kinsman-redeemer law requiring relatives to buy back family land
- Ruth 4:1-6 — Boaz redeeming Naomi's land, the same redemption principle in action
- Zephaniah 3:17 — "He will rejoice over you with gladness" — the same image of God's joyful delight in his people