Jeremiah 32

Buying a Field in a Besieged Land

With Babylon's army outside the walls and Jeremiah locked in the palace guardhouse, the Lord tells him to buy a family field, seal the deed in a jar, and trust that people will buy fields here again.

The tenth year of Zedekiah (Bible Dictionary: Zedekiah reigned 597–586 B.C.), the year before Jerusalem fell, during the Babylonian siege Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

The chapter opens with a date: “the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.”

The chapter opens with a date: “the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.” Zedekiah's eleventh year ended with Jerusalem's capture in the fifth month (Jer. 1:3), so this is the last year before the fall. Nebuchadrezzar is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon 604–561 B.C. His army is camped around Jerusalem, and Jeremiah is confined “in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house,” because he has been telling the king that the city will fall.

In the book's outline, chapters 30–33 are “prophecies of the latter-day restoration of Israel and the gospel covenant, containing the story of the prophet's buying a field.” That is the whole chapter in a sentence. A cousin offers Jeremiah a field in Anathoth, the priests' town where he was born, out in the country of Benjamin beyond the besieged city. He buys it, has the deed sealed and stored in a jar, and then asks the Lord what it means. The answer (verses 26–44) is that the city will burn, and that the Lord will gather His people back and make an everlasting covenant with them.

The Church's chapter heading says the purchase symbolizes “the return of Israel to their land.” Chapter 33, still dated while Jeremiah is “yet shut up in the court of the prison,” continues the same promise.

The thread through the chapter

Jeremiah 32 asks what faith looks like when everything visible says the opposite.

Jeremiah 32 asks what faith looks like when everything visible says the opposite. The first half is an act: a prophet whose city is about to be taken pays for a field outside the besieged city, and takes care to preserve the paper. The second half is the Lord's explanation of the act. Both halves hold two things that seem not to fit. The city is “given into the hand of the Chaldeans” (verses 3, 24, 25, 28), and “houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land” (verse 15).

The chapter does not resolve this by softening the judgment. The Lord's reply (verses 28–35) is blunt: the city will burn, and the reasons are Judah's own. Only then, “And now therefore” (verse 36), does the promise begin, and it is larger than a return from Babylon. It speaks of one heart, one way, and an everlasting covenant. What Jeremiah affirms in his prayer, the Lord asks back as a question: is anything too hard for the Lord?

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–5

The prophet in the guardhouse

In plain words

In the tenth year of Zedekiah, with the Babylonian army besieging Jerusalem, Jeremiah is shut up in the court of the guard at the king's palace. Zedekiah put him there for prophesying that the city would be given to the king of Babylon, that Zedekiah himself would be captured, speak with the king face to face, and be taken to Babylon, where he would stay until the Lord visited him, and that fighting the Chaldeans would not succeed.

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

2 For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.

Context #

Shut up for prophesying a surrender

Jeremiah is confined in the “court of the prison” because he told Zedekiah the city would fall.

Jeremiah is confined in the “court of the prison” because he told Zedekiah the city would fall. Verse 3 gives the king's own words: “Wherefore dost thou prophesy…?” Politically, the reaction is understandable: “In a time of national crisis, he called for surrender and submission to Babylon.” But “of course Jeremiah was not speaking from a political point of view; he spoke for the Lord.”

The court was not a dungeon but part of the palace compound, as the verse says: “in the king of Judah's house.” Chapter 38 closes with the same fact: “Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken” (Jer. 38:28). That is why the crowd of “Jews that sat in the court” (verse 12) can watch the transaction, and why chapter 33 can open by saying Jeremiah was “yet shut up” (Jer. 33:1).

3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;

4 And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;

Related Scriptures #

Eyes to eyes, and not seeing Babylon

Verses 4–5 say Zedekiah will face the king of Babylon, “mouth to mouth,” and then be led to Babylon.

Verses 4–5 say Zedekiah will face the king of Babylon, “mouth to mouth,” and then be led to Babylon. Ezekiel's prophecy looks like it disagrees: the Lord will bring Zedekiah “to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there” (Ezek. 12:13). The contradiction is only a “seeming” one.

The record of what happened explains both. Zedekiah was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where his sons were killed before his eyes, “then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah,” and carried him to Babylon, where he was imprisoned “till the day of his death” (Jer. 52:9–11). He met Nebuchadnezzar face to face, and he reached Babylon, but he could not see it.

5 And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?

Verses 6–15

The field at Anathoth

In plain words

The Lord had told Jeremiah that his cousin Hanameel, son of his uncle Shallum, would come and ask him to buy his field in Anathoth, because Jeremiah had the right of redemption. Hanameel came, and Jeremiah knew it was the Lord's word. He weighed out seventeen shekels of silver, signed and sealed the deed before witnesses, and took both the sealed copy and the open copy. Before Hanameel, the witnesses, and the Jews sitting in the court, he gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, with the Lord's instruction: put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time, “for houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”

6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

7 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.

Context #

A cousin and a duty

Jeremiah buys the field because the law gave a relative the first claim to keep family land in the family: he “had the right as next of kin.”

Jeremiah buys the field because the law gave a relative the first claim to keep family land in the family: he “had the right as next of kin.” The law said that when a man “hath sold away some of his possession,” a kinsman “come to redeem it” (Lev. 25:25). Ruth 4 shows the practice at the town gate: a nearer relative declines, “lest I mar mine own inheritance,” and Boaz redeems in his place (Ruth 4:6).

Hanameel is Jeremiah's cousin, the son of his uncle Shallum. The field is at Anathoth, and Jeremiah was “of the priests that were in Anathoth” (Jer. 1:1), so this is family ground. Its location, outside a city under siege, in a land the people already call “desolate” (verse 43), is part of why the purchase makes no ordinary sense.

Verse 8 says Jeremiah “knew that this was the word of the LORD” when Hanameel came exactly as foretold. One reading is that the sale's coming true as announced told him that it was the Lord's doing.

Sources: Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

8 So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

9 And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

Context #

Silver weighed out

Silver was weighed because there were not yet coins to count. The Hebrews “appear to have been ignorant of coinage until the Persian period”; before that, gold and silver served…

Silver was weighed because there were not yet coins to count. The Hebrews “appear to have been ignorant of coinage until the Persian period”; before that, gold and silver served as money, “but payments were made by weight.” The Church edition's footnote sends the reader to Abraham's purchase at Hebron, where he “weighed to Ephron the silver… four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant” (Gen. 23:16). Jeremiah follows the same procedure that Abraham did, with witnesses present, in verse 10.

Sources: “Money”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

10 And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.

11 So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:

Context #

A sealed deed and an open one

Jeremiah made two copies of the deed: one sealed, one left open. The reason given in one reading is protection: “two copies of the bill of purchase were prepared, one sealed up,…

Jeremiah made two copies of the deed: one sealed, one left open. The reason given in one reading is protection: “two copies of the bill of purchase were prepared, one sealed up, and the other open; so that, in case the open one were lost, or were accidentally or designedly injured or defaced, a perfect original might still exist in the sealed-up copy.” The text says only that the sealed copy was made “according to the law and custom”; the explanation is an inference from how the two copies are described.

12 And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.

13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,

14 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.

Imagery #

The jar

The clay jar is for keeping the deeds safe for a long time, “many days.”

The clay jar is for keeping the deeds safe for a long time, “many days.” One reading is that it protected them “from damp, decay, and destruction,” so that they could be used “afterwards, when sale of property would still be taking place.” Sealing the deed in a jar was “proof of his faith” that fields would be owned again, and “after Jeremiah's death, the right of ownership would pass to Jeremiah's closest kin.”

So the deed is not stored for Jeremiah's own use. It is for someone in a future the siege has not yet allowed.

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

15 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.

Imagery #

A purchase that is a promise

The land purchase is the message: it was “a symbolic witness that the Jews would someday return from captivity and possess the promised land once again.”

Jeremiah's earlier acts of this kind, such as the broken jar of Jer. 19:1–15, announced judgment. This one announces restoration, and does so in the same plain form: a real object, a real transaction, and the Lord's interpretation in the next breath.

Sources: Lesson 135: Jeremiah 30–33, Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 16–25

Jeremiah's prayer

In plain words

After handing over the deed, Jeremiah prays. The Lord made heaven and earth; nothing is too hard for Him. He shows kindness to thousands and repays the fathers' guilt to their children. He brought Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders and gave them the land, but they did not obey, and so this disaster has come. The siege ramps have reached the city, and the city is about to be given to the Chaldeans, just as the Lord said. Yet the Lord told him, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses.”

16 Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the LORD, saying,

17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

Language #

Nothing too hard

Jeremiah's prayer and the Lord's answer open with the same claim. Jeremiah says “there is nothing too hard for thee” (verse 17); the Lord replies, “is there any thing too hard for me?”

Jeremiah's prayer and the Lord's answer open with the same claim. Jeremiah says “there is nothing too hard for thee” (verse 17); the Lord replies, “is there any thing too hard for me?” (verse 27). Jeremiah “may not have known how the Lord would restore the Jews to their homeland, but since he had a testimony that nothing is too difficult for the Lord, he knew it could be done.”

The Hebrew verb is pala, “be surpassing, extraordinary”; said of a task, it means “be beyond one's power, difficult to do,” and with “for” and a person, “too difficult for” someone. It stands in the same form in both verses, and in the Lord's words to Abraham about Sarah: “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Gen. 18:14). The echo is real in the Hebrew, though the chapter does not say Jeremiah has Genesis in mind.

Sources: Lesson 135: Jeremiah 30–33, Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

18 Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,

Related Scriptures #

Mercy to thousands, and the fathers' iniquity

Verse 18 echoes the words the Lord spoke of Himself at Sinai: “Keeping mercy for thousands… visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children” (Ex. 34:7).

Verse 18 echoes the words the Lord spoke of Himself at Sinai: “Keeping mercy for thousands… visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children” (Ex. 34:7). Jeremiah is praying back to the Lord what the Lord has said about Himself, and the prayer goes on to the second half: Israel “obeyed not thy voice… therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them” (verse 23).

The chapter does not put the blame only on earlier generations. Jeremiah's own book, a chapter before this one, looks ahead to a day when people “shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity” (Jer. 31:29–30). And the Lord's answer here names the living along with the dead: “they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (verse 32).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:

20 Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day;

21 And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;

22 And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;

23 And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them:

24 Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.

25 And thou hast said unto me, O Lord GOD, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

Language #

Buy the field, and the city given away

Jeremiah's prayer ends with a puzzle, not a request. He lays out the facts: the siege mounds have reached the city, it is “given into the hand of the Chaldeans,” and what the Lord…

Jeremiah's prayer ends with a puzzle, not a request. He lays out the facts: the siege mounds have reached the city, it is “given into the hand of the Chaldeans,” and what the Lord spoke “is come to pass.” Then: “And thou hast said unto me… Buy thee the field for money.” One reading is that the promise of future purchases “seemed so improbable, in view of the impending capture and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, that he betakes himself to the Lord in prayer.”

The Lord's answer (verses 26–44) does not retract the purchase and does not retract the judgment. It restates both, in that order.

Verses 26–35

The Lord's answer and the burning of the city

In plain words

The Lord answers: “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” He will give the city to Nebuchadrezzar, and the Chaldeans will set it on fire, including the houses where people burned incense to Baal on the roofs. Israel and Judah have done only evil since their youth, from the day the city was built. Everyone is guilty, from the kings to the people. They turned their backs, would not take instruction, set their idols in the temple, and built high places in the valley of Hinnom to give their children to Molech, something the Lord never commanded and never thought of.

26 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,

27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

28 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:

29 And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.

Context #

Incense on the roofs

The houses that burn are the ones with altars on their roofs. The Church edition's footnote sends the reader to the reign of Josiah, when the king tore down “the altars that were…

The houses that burn are the ones with altars on their roofs. The Church edition's footnote sends the reader to the reign of Josiah, when the king tore down “the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made” (2 Kgs. 23:12). So altars on rooftops were an old royal practice, not only private worship. Josiah had beaten those altars down; the Lord's charge here, in Zedekiah's reign, is that the worship went on.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.

31 For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

32 Because 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, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.

34 But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it.

35 And they 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 unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Context #

Molech in the valley of Hinnom

The worst charge is child sacrifice to Molech, and the Lord disowns it.

The worst charge is child sacrifice to Molech, and the Lord disowns it. Molech was “a fire god, worshipped by passing children through or burning them in fire.” The valley of Hinnom lay south of Jerusalem, and Topheth there was a spot where human sacrifices were offered to Molech. The law had forbidden it (Lev. 18:21).

The Lord's denial is emphatic: “which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind.” The same denial appears in Jer. 19:5, where the Lord sends Jeremiah to this same valley to break a jar.

Sources: “Molech, or Milcom”, Bible Dictionary. “Topheth”, Bible Dictionary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 36–44

The promise of return and covenant

In plain words

“And now”: concerning this city that you say will fall to Babylon, the Lord will gather His people from every land where He drove them in anger, bring them back and let them live in safety. They will be His people, and He will be their God. He will give them one heart and one way, so that they fear Him always, for their good and their children's. He will make an everlasting covenant: He will not stop doing them good, and He will put the fear of Him in their hearts so that they do not turn away. He will rejoice to do them good and plant them in the land with all His heart and soul. As He brought this great evil, so He will bring the good He promised. Fields will be bought in this land, which you now call a desolation, with deeds signed, sealed, and witnessed throughout Benjamin, around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, “for I will cause their captivity to return.”

36 And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;

37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:

Latter-day Prophets #

Gathered from all countries

The promise to gather Israel “out of all countries” looks past the return from Babylon to the gathering of the last days.

The promise to gather Israel “out of all countries” looks past the return from Babylon to the gathering of the last days. The Church edition's footnote sends verse 37 to D&C 45:69, about gathering unto Zion “out of every nation under heaven,” and the promise “is yet to be fully realized in the dispensation of the fulness of times” (see 3 Ne. 20:29–46 and 3 Ne. 21). There the risen Lord says, “I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time.”

President Nelson, then of the Quorum of the Twelve, taught that “the coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign to the entire world that the Lord has commenced to gather Israel and fulfill covenants He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He does not cite this verse, but he describes the latter-day gathering in which its promise is to be “fully realized.”

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Russell M. Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel”, general conference, Oct. 2006.

38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

Related Scriptures #

One heart, and one way

The restoration here is more than a change of address: the Lord promises to change the people so that they “fear me for ever.”

The restoration here is more than a change of address: the Lord promises to change the people so that they “fear me for ever.” The Church edition's footnote on verse 39 points to the topics of conversion and being spiritually reborn. The previous chapter's new covenant pairs the same words, “will be their God, and they shall be my people,” with a change inside: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts” (Jer. 31:33).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

Latter-day Prophets #

An everlasting covenant

The Church edition's footnote ties the covenant of verse 40 to the new and everlasting covenant.

The Church edition's footnote ties the covenant of verse 40 to the new and everlasting covenant. President Nelson teaches that it “is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It includes all ordinances and covenants necessary for our salvation,” and that “it is ‘new’ whenever the Lord renews or restores it, and it is ‘everlasting’ because it does not change.”

The verse's own promise, “I will not turn away from them,” fits his description of what a covenant does: “Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us.” He is speaking of covenants generally and does not cite Jeremiah.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant”, Liahona, Oct. 2022.

41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

42 For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.

43 And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD.

Literary Structure #

The deed repeated as a promise

The chapter ends by repeating the purchase in the future tense. Verses 9–10 have Jeremiah buy, “subscribe evidences,” seal, and take witnesses; verse 44 says that “men shall buy…

The chapter ends by repeating the purchase in the future tense. Verses 9–10 have Jeremiah buy, “subscribe evidences,” seal, and take witnesses; verse 44 says that “men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses,” in the same places where the enemy now stands: Benjamin, around Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah. The one purchase done by one man in a guardhouse becomes the pattern of many. Verses 26–44 are “the Lord's certification to Jeremiah that people would truly return from Babylon to inhabit the land.”

The Church edition's footnote gives the Hebrew behind “valley” in the list of regions as “coastal plain.”

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 32

The return and covenant promised in verses 36–41 are “yet to be fully realized in the dispensation of the fulness of times,” and the risen Christ speaks of that fulfillment to the Nephites: He will gather His people, and “then shall Jerusalem be inhabited again with my people, and it shall be the land of their inheritance” (3 Ne. 20:46). The chapter shows the Lord who says, “I will not turn away from them, to do them good” (Jer. 32:40).

Worth exploring next

The gathering and covenant in the neighboring chapters: Jer. 31:31–34 and Jer. 33:6–16.
The Lord's promise to Abraham and Sarah that nothing is too hard: Gen. 18:14.
The fulfillment of Jeremiah's word about Zedekiah: 2 Kgs. 25:1–7 and Jer. 52:9–11.
The Lord's words to the Nephites about the gathering: 3 Ne. 20:29–46 and 3 Ne. 21.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

3 Ne. 20:29–46 — The risen Lord speaks of gathering Israel to the land of their inheritance and fulfilling the covenant, the promise of Jeremiah 32:37–41.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
“Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar”, Bible Dictionary.
“Baruch”, Bible Dictionary.
“Money”, Bible Dictionary.
“Molech, or Milcom”, Bible Dictionary.
“Topheth”, Bible Dictionary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Lesson 135: Jeremiah 30–33, Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual.
Russell M. Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel”, general conference, Oct. 2006.
Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant”, Liahona, Oct. 2022.
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub.

I’ve studied Jeremiah 32