Jeremiah 28-30

New Life Version

Jeremiah and the False Preacher Hananiah

28 In that same year, in the beginning of the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the man from Gibeon who told what would happen in the future, spoke to me in the house of the Lord. He said to me in front of the religious leaders and all the people, ² “This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the crossbar across the shoulders of the king of Babylon. ³ Within two years I will bring back to this place all the objects of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from here and carried to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the people of Judah who were taken to Babylon,’ says the Lord. ‘For I will break the cross-bar of the king of Babylon.’”

⁵ Then Jeremiah, the man of God, spoke to Hananiah, the man who told what would happen, in front of the religious leaders and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. ⁶ And Jeremiah, the man who spoke for God, said, “Let it be so! May the Lord do so. May the Lord make the words you have spoken come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the objects of the Lord’s house and all the people of Judah. ⁷ Yet listen now to what I am about to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ⁸ The men who spoke for God before us from long ago spoke of war and trouble and disease coming to many lands and great nations. ⁹ As for the man who told that peace would come, when his word comes to pass, then that man will be known as the one that the Lord has sent.” ¹⁰ Then Hananiah, the man who told what would happen, took the cross-bar from the neck of Jeremiah the man of God and broke it. ¹¹ And Hananiah said in front of all the people, “The Lord says, ‘In this way I will break the cross-bar of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.’” Then Jeremiah the man of God went his way.

¹² Some time after Hananiah had broken the cross-bar from off the neck of Jeremiah, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘The Lord says, “You have broken the cross-bars of wood, but you have made bars of iron in their place.” ¹⁴ For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “I have put the cross-bar of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And they will serve him. I have given him the animals of the field also.”’” ¹⁵ Then Jeremiah who spoke for God said to Hananiah who told what would happen, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you. And you have made these people trust in a lie. ¹⁶ So the Lord says, ‘See, I am about to take you from the earth. This year you are going to die, because you have spoken against the right and power of the Lord.’” ¹⁷ So Hananiah, who had said these things in God’s name, died in the seventh month of the same year.

Jeremiah’s Letter to Those Taken to Babylon

29 These are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the man of God sent from Jerusalem to the leaders, the religious leaders, the men of God, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² (This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the king’s servants, the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the able workmen had left Jerusalem.) ³ The letter was sent with Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said, ⁴ “This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says to all of His people who have been sent from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ ‘Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶ Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may give birth to sons and daughters. Become many there, and do not let your number become less. ⁷ Work for the well-being of the city where I have sent you to and pray to the Lord for this. For if it is well with the city you live in, it will be well with you.’ ⁸ For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, ‘Do not let the people among you who tell what is going to happen in the future and those who use their secret ways fool you. Do not listen to their dreams. ⁹ For they speak false words to you in My name. I have not sent them,’ says the Lord.

¹⁰ “For the Lord says, ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My promise to you. I will bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will look for Me and find Me, when you look for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will bring you back and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have made you go,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you away.’

¹⁵ “You have said that the Lord has given men who speak for Him in Babylon. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord says about the king who sits on the throne of David, and about all the people who live in this city, your brothers who were not taken with you to Babylon. ¹⁷ The Lord of All says, ‘I am sending the sword, hunger, and disease upon them. I will make them like bad figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸ I will go after them with the sword, hunger, and disease, and will make them a cause of trouble to all the nations of the earth. They will be a curse, an object of much shame and hate among all the nations where I have made them go. ¹⁹ This is because they have not listened to My words,’ says the Lord, ‘which I sent to them again and again by My servants who spoke for Me. And you did not listen,’ says the Lord. ²⁰ So hear the Word of the Lord, all you people who have been sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹ “This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says about Ahab the son of Kolaiah and about Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are speaking false words to you in My name: ‘See, I will give them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will kill them in front of your eyes. ²² Because of them a curse will be used by all the people who are from Judah but are in Babylon: “May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.” ²³ This is because they have done what is foolish in Israel. They have done sex sins with their neighbors’ wives. And they have spoken false words in My name, which I did not tell them to speak. I am He Who knows, and I see what they have done,’ says the Lord.”

The Letter to Shemaiah

²⁴ And say to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ²⁵ “This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the religious leader, and to all the religious leaders. You said to Zephaniah, ²⁶ “The Lord has made you the religious leader over the house of the Lord instead of Jehoiada. You are to take every crazy man who says he speaks in God’s name and put him in chains with iron around his neck. ²⁷ So why have you not spoken sharp words to Jeremiah of Anathoth who is speaking to you in God’s name? ²⁸ For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying, ‘You will be held there for a long time. So build houses and live in them. And plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”’”

²⁹ Zephaniah the religious leader read this letter to Jeremiah the man of God. ³⁰ Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ³¹ “Send word to all My people held in Babylon, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has spoken to you in My name, but I did not send him. He has made you trust in a lie.’ ³² So the Lord says, ‘I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his children after him. He will not have anyone living among these people. And he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,’ says the Lord, ‘because he has spoken against Me.’”

Israel and Judah to Be Free Again

30 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words which I have spoken to you. ³ For the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will bring back My people Israel and Judah from where they are held.’ The Lord says, ‘I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers before them, and it will be theirs.’”

⁴ These are the words which the Lord spoke about Israel and Judah: ⁵ “The Lord says, ‘I have heard cries of much trouble, of being afraid, and there is no peace. ⁶ Ask now and see, can a man give birth to a child? Why do I see every man with his hands on his body like a woman giving birth? Why have all faces turned white? ⁷ That day will be very bad! There is none like it. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he will be saved out of it. ⁸ On that day,’ says the Lord of All, ‘I will break the cross-bar off from their neck, and will tear off their chains. Strangers will no longer make them their servants. ⁹ But they will serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. ¹⁰ So do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant,’ says the Lord, ‘and do not be troubled, O Israel, for see, from far away I will save you and your children from the land where they are being held. Jacob will return and have quiet rest, and no one will make him afraid. ¹¹ For I am with you to save you,’ says the Lord. ‘I will make a complete end of all the nations where I have sent you. I will not make a complete end of you, but I will give you the right punishment. I will not let you go without being punished.’

¹² “For the Lord says, ‘Your hurt cannot be healed. Your hurt is very bad. ¹³ There is no one to ask for you in your cause, no help for your hurt, no healing for you. ¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you. They do not care about you. For I have hurt you as if you were hurt by one who hates you. You have been punished without pity, because you have much guilt. You have done many sins. ¹⁵ Why do you cry out because of your hurt? Your pain cannot be healed. Because you have much guilt and have done many sins, I have done these things to you. ¹⁶ But all who destroy you will be destroyed. Every one of those who hate you will be taken away against their will. Those who rob you will be robbed, and all who hurt you will be hurt. ¹⁷ For I will heal you. I will heal you where you have been hurt,’ says the Lord, ‘because they have said that you are not wanted. They have said, “It is Zion. No one cares for her.”’

¹⁸ “The Lord says, ‘I will bring the tents of Jacob back from Babylon, and will have pity on his houses. The city will be built up again on its broken walls. And the king’s house will stand where it used to be. ¹⁹ The people who live there will give much thanks and happy voices will be heard. And I will add to their numbers. They will not be made less. I will honor them, and they will be important. ²⁰ Their children will be as they were before. They will be a strong people before Me. And I will punish all those who make it hard for them. ²¹ Their leader will be one of them. Their ruler will come from among them. I will bring him near, and he will come close to Me. For who would have the strength of heart to come near Me on his own?’ says the Lord. ²² ‘And you will be My people, and I will be your God.’”

²³ See the storm of the Lord! Anger has gone out, a very bad storm. It will break upon the heads of the sinful. ²⁴ The burning anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has done what He has planned in His heart to do. In days to come you will understand this.