28

1That same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in Yahweh’s house, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, 2“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of Yahweh’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

5Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in Yahweh’s house, 6even the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May Yahweh do so. May Yahweh perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Yahweh’s house, and all those who are captives, from Babylon to this place. 7Nevertheless listen now to this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people: 8The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, of evil, and of pestilence. 9As for prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet happens, then the prophet will be known, that Yahweh has truly sent him.”

10Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it. 11Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Yahweh says: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two full years.’” Then the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

12Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 13“Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “You have broken the bars of wood, but you have made in their place bars of iron.” 14For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. I have also given him the animals of the field.”’”

15Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! Yahweh has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. 16Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh.’”

17So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

29

1Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2(after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem), 3by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). It said:

4Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished. 7Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” 8For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. 9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says Yahweh. 10For Yahweh says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. 12You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” says Yahweh, “and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh. I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.”

15Because you have said, “Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon,” 16Yahweh says concerning the king who sits on David’s throne, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone with you into captivity, 17Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that can’t be eaten, they are so bad. 18I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19because they have not listened to my words,” says Yahweh, “with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,” says Yahweh.

20Hear therefore Yahweh’s word, all you captives whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes. 22A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;’ 23because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.

24Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26“Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is crazy and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. 27Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you, 28because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long. Build houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat their fruit?”’”

29Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, saying, 31“Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,” 32therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell among this people. He won’t see the good that I will do to my people,” says Yahweh, “because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.”’”

30

1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2“Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3For, behold, the days come,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’”

4These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5For Yahweh says:

“We have heard a voice of trembling;

a voice of fear, and not of peace.

6Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child.

Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail,

and all faces are turned pale?

7Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it!

It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;

but he will be saved out of it.

8It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck,

and will burst your bonds.

Strangers will no more make them their bondservants;

9but they will serve Yahweh their God,

and David their king,

whom I will raise up to them.

10Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh.

Don’t be dismayed, Israel.

For, behold, I will save you from afar,

and save your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob will return,

and will be quiet and at ease.

No one will make him afraid.

11For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you;

for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you,

but I will not make a full end of you;

but I will correct you in measure,

and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

12For Yahweh says,

“Your hurt is incurable.

Your wound is grievous.

13There is no one to plead your cause,

that you may be bound up.

You have no healing medicines.

14All your lovers have forgotten you.

They don’t seek you.

For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy,

with the chastisement of a cruel one,

for the greatness of your iniquity,

because your sins were increased.

15Why do you cry over your injury?

Your pain is incurable.

For the greatness of your iniquity,

because your sins have increased,

I have done these things to you.

16Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured.

All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity.

Those who plunder you will be plunder.

I will make all who prey on you become prey.

17For I will restore health to you,

and I will heal you of your wounds,” says Yahweh,

“because they have called you an outcast,

saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’”

18Yahweh says:

“Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents,

and have compassion on his dwelling places.

The city will be built on its own hill,

and the palace will be inhabited in its own place.

19Thanksgiving will proceed out of them

with the voice of those who make merry.

I will multiply them,

and they will not be few;

I will also glorify them,

and they will not be small.

20Their children also will be as before,

and their congregation will be established before me.

I will punish all who oppress them.

21Their prince will be one of them,

and their ruler will proceed from among them.

I will cause him to draw near,

and he will approach me;

for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?” says Yahweh.

22“You shall be my people,

and I will be your God.

23Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out,

a sweeping storm;

it will burst on the head of the wicked.

24The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return until he has accomplished,

and until he has performed the intentions of his heart.

In the latter days you will understand it.”