You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again.<n id="1" /> But you have not paid any attention to them.

But correct the way you have been living and do what is right.<n id="1" /> Obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God. If you do, the <sc>Lordsc> will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would.<n id="2" />

Things will go better for the nation that submits to the yoke of servitude to<n id="1" /> the king of Babylon and is subject to him. I will leave that nation<n id="2" /> in its native land. Its people can continue to farm it and live in it. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably<n id="1" /> prophesied war, disaster,<n id="2" /> and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms.

He sent it with Elasah son of Shaphan<n id="1" /> and Gemariah son of Hilkiah.<n id="2" /> King Zedekiah of Judah had sent these men to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.<n id="3" /> The letter said:p>

Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the <sc>Lordsc> for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.&#8217;p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll.<n id="2" />

In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted.<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the tenth year that Zedekiah was ruling over Judah the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah.<n id="1" /> That was the same as the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.p>

<p class="bodytext">Now at that time,<n id="1" /> the armies of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem.<n id="2" /> The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse<n id="3" /> attached to the royal palace of Judah.

So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seven ounces of silver and gave it to him to pay for it.<n id="1" />

You plan great things and you do mighty deeds.<n id="1" /> You see everything people do.<n id="2" /> You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do.<n id="3" />

You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt which have had lasting effect. By this means you gained both in Israel and among humankind a renown that lasts to this day.<n id="1" />

You kept the promise that you swore on oath to their ancestors.<n id="1" /> You gave them a land flowing with milk and honey.<n id="2" />

&#8216;I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled<n id="1" /> them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

I will make a lasting covenant<n id="1" /> with them that I will never stop doing good to them.<n id="2" /> I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that<n id="3" /> they will never again turn<n id="4" /> away from me.

You and your people<n id="1" /> are saying that this land will become desolate, uninhabited by either people or animals. You are saying that it will be handed over to the Babylonians.<n id="2" /> But fields<n id="3" /> will again be bought in this land.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm:<n id="1" /> &#8216;The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah.<n id="2" />

Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety<n id="1" /> and Jerusalem<n id="2" /> will live in security. At that time Jerusalem will be called &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> has provided us with justice.&#8221;<n id="3" />

But later<n id="1" /> they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again.<n id="2" />