6At that time the Lord sent me a message. He said,

7“Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.’”

8Then, just as the Lord had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the Lord.

9So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces32:9 Hebrew 17 shekels, about 7 ounces or 194 grams in weight. of silver for it.

10I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.

11Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase,

12and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

13Then I said to Baruch as they all listened,

14“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’

15For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”

32“The sins of Israel and Judah—the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets—have stirred up my anger.

33My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.

34They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.

35They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!

42“This is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them.

43Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’

44Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold—deeds signed and sealed and witnessed—in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah32:44 Hebrew the Shephelah. and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!”