Jeremia 29

1Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremias, the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the ancients that were carried into captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

2After that Jechonias the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Juda, and of Jerusalem, and the craftsman, and the engravers were departed out of Jerusalem:

3By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of Helcias, whom Sedecias king of Juda sent to Babylon to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, saying:

4Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, and eat the fruit of them.

6Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number.

7And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall be your peace.

8For thus saith the Lord of hoses the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you: and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:

9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent them, saith the Lord.

10For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favour, to bring you again to this place.

11For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience.

12And you shall call upon me, and you shall go: and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you.

13You shall seek me, and shall And me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.

14And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord: and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive.

15Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon:

16For thus saith the Lord to the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and to all the people that dwell in this city, to your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity.

17Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.

18And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and pith the pestilence: and I will give them up unto affliction to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them out:

19Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord: which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising by night, and sending: and you have not heard, saith the Lord.

20Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.

21Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to Achab the son of Colias, and to Sedecias the son of Maasias, who prophesy unto you in my name falsely: Behold I will deliver them up into the hands of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: and he shall kill them before your eyes.

22And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Juda, that are in Babylon, saying: The Lord make thee like Sedecias, and like Achab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire:

23Because they have acted folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I commanded them not: I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord.

24And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say:

25Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because thou hast sent letters in thy name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all the priests, saying:

26The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Joiada the priest, that thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over every man that raveth and prophesieth, to put him in the stocks, and into prison.

27And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite, who prophesieth to you?

28For he hath also sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long time: build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant gardens, and eat the fruits of them.

29So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing of Jeremias the prophet.

30And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

31Send to all them of the captivity, saying: Thus saith the Lord to Semeias the Nehelamite: Because Semeias hath prophesied to you, and I sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie:

32Therefore thus saith the Lord: behold I will visit upon Semeias the Nehelamite, and upon his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in the midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, saith the Lord: because he hath spoken treason against the Lord.

1Et hæc sunt verba libri quem misit Jeremias propheta de Jerusalem ad reliquias seniorum transmigrationis, et ad sacerdotes, et ad prophetas, et ad omnem populum quem traduxerat Nabuchodonosor de Jerusalem in Babylonem,

2postquam egressus est Jechonias rex, et domina, et eunuchi, et principes Juda et Jerusalem, et faber et inclusor, de Jerusalem,

3in manu Elasa filii Saphan, et Gamariæ filii Helciæ, quos misit Sedecias rex Juda ad Nabuchodonosor regem Babylonis in Babylonem, dicens:

4Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël, omni transmigrationi quam transtuli de Jerusalem in Babylonem:

5Ædificate domos, et habitate: et plantate hortos, et comedite fructum eorum.

6Accipite uxores, et generate filios et filias: et date filiis vestris uxores, et filias vestras date viris, et pariant filios et filias: et multiplicamini ibi, et nolite esse pauci numero.

7Et quærite pacem civitatis ad quam transmigrare vos feci, et orate pro ea ad Dominum, quia in pace illius erit pax vobis.

8Hæc enim dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Non vos seducant prophetæ vestri qui sunt in medio vestrum, et divini vestri, et ne attendatis ad somnia vestra quæ vos somniatis:

9quia falso ipsi prophetant vobis in nomine meo, et non misi eos, dicit Dominus.

10Quia hæc dicit Dominus: Cum cœperint impleri in Babylone septuaginta anni, visitabo vos, et suscitabo super vos verbum meum bonum, ut reducam vos ad locum istum.

11Ego enim scio cogitationes quas ego cogito super vos, ait Dominus, cogitationes pacis et non afflictionis, ut dem vobis finem et patientiam.

12Et invocabitis me, et ibitis: et orabitis me, et ego exaudiam vos.

13Quæretis me, et invenietis, cum quæsieritis me in toto corde vestro.

14Et inveniar a vobis, ait Dominus: et reducam captivitatem vestram, et congregabo vos de universis gentibus et de cunctis locis ad quæ expuli vos, dicit Dominus, et reverti vos faciam de loco ad quem transmigrare vos feci.

15Quia dixistis: Suscitavit nobis Dominus prophetas in Babylone:

16quia hæc dicit Dominus ad regem qui sedet super solium David, et ad omnem populum habitatorem urbis hujus, ad fratres vestros qui non sunt egressi vobiscum in transmigrationem:

17hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: Ecce mittam in eos gladium, et famem, et pestem: et ponam eos quasi ficus malas, quæ comedi non possunt eo quod pessimæ sint:

18et persequar eos in gladio, et in fame, et in pestilentia: et dabo eos in vexationem universis regnis terræ: in maledictionem, et in stuporem, et in sibilum, et in opprobrium cunctis gentibus ad quas ego ejeci eos,

19eo quod non audierint verba mea, dicit Dominus, quæ misit ad eos per servos meos prophetas, de nocte consurgens et mittens: et non audistis, dicit Dominus.

20Vos ergo audite verbum Domini, omnis transmigratio quam emisi de Jerusalem in Babylonem.

21Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël, ad Achab filium Coliæ, et ad Sedeciam filium Maasiæ, qui prophetant vobis in nomine meo mendaciter: Ecce ego tradam eos in manus Nabuchodonosor regis Babylonis, et percutiet eos in oculis vestris:

22et assumetur ex eis maledictio omni transmigrationi Juda quæ est in Babylone, dicentium: Ponat te Dominus sicut Sedeciam et sicut Achab, quos frixit rex Babylonis in igne:

23pro eo quod fecerint stultitiam in Israël, et mœchati sunt in uxores amicorum suorum, et locuti sunt verbum in nomine meo mendaciter, quod non mandavi eis. Ego sum judex et testis, dicit Dominus.

24Et ad Semeiam Nehelamiten dices:

25Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Pro eo quod misisti in nomine tuo libros ad omnem populum qui est in Jerusalem, et ad Sophoniam filium Maasiæ sacerdotem, et ad universos sacerdotes, dicens:

26Dominus dedit te sacerdotem pro Jojade sacerdote, ut sis dux in domo Domini, super omnem virum arreptitium et prophetantem, ut mittas eum in nervum et in carcerem:

27et nunc quare non increpasti Jeremiam Anathothiten, qui prophetat vobis?

28Quia super hoc misit in Babylonem ad nos, dicens: Longum est: ædificate domos, et habitate: et plantate hortos, et comedite fructus eorum.

29Legit ergo Sophonias sacerdos librum istum in auribus Jeremiæ prophetæ.

30Et factum est verbum Domini ad Jeremiam, dicens:

31Mitte ad omnem transmigrationem, dicens: Hæc dicit Dominus ad Semeiam Nehelamiten: Pro eo quod prophetavit vobis Semeias, et ego non misi eum, et fecit vos confidere in mendacio,

32idcirco hæc dicit Dominus: Ecce ego visitabo super Semeiam Nehelamiten, et super semen ejus: non erit ei vir sedens in medio populi hujus, et non videbit bonum quod ego faciam populo meo, ait Dominus, quia prævaricationem locutus est adversus Dominum.

1And these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem to the remnant of the elders of the transmigration, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had led away from Jerusalem to Babylon,

2after king Jeconiah, with the queen, and the eunuchs, and the leaders of Judah and of Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and engravers, had departed from Jerusalem.

3It was sent by the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and by Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, saying:

4“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who have been taken away, whom I have caused to be transferred from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5Build houses and live in them. And plant gardens, and eat from their fruit.

6Take wives, and conceive sons and daughters. And give wives to your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters. And be multiplied there, and do not choose to be few in number.

7And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be taken away, and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For your peace will be in its peace.

8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not allow your prophets and your diviners, who are in your midst, to seduce you. And you should pay no attention to your dreams, which you are dreaming.

9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name, and I have not sent them, says the Lord.

10For thus says the Lord: When the seventy years will begin to be completed in Babylon, I will visit you. And I will raise up over you my good word, so that I may lead you back to this place.

11For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.

12And you shall call upon me, and you shall go forth. And you shall pray to me, and I will heed you.

13You shall seek me. And you will find me, when you have sought me with your whole heart.

14And I will be found by you, says the Lord. And I will lead you back from your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations and all the places, to which I have expelled you, says the Lord. And I will return you from the place to which I sent you into captivity.

15For you have said: ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.’

16For thus says the Lord, to the king who sits upon the throne of David, and to all the people who live in this city, to your brothers who have not departed with you in the transmigration:

17Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send among them the sword, and famine, and pestilence. And I will make them like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.

18And I will pursue them with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence. And I will give them over to affliction, amid all the kingdoms of the earth: as a curse, and in stupor, and with hissing, and as a disgrace among all the nations to which I have driven them out.

19For they have not listened to my words, says the Lord, which I sent to them through my servants, the prophets, rising while it was still night, and sending. But you have not listened, says the Lord.

20Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord, all you of the transmigration, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem into Babylon.

21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and to Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsely to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.

22And a curse will be taken up about them, by all the captives of Judah that are in Babylon, saying: ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire!’

23For they have acted foolishly in Israel, and they have committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and they have spoken lying words in my name, which I did not command them. I am the Judge and the Witness, says the Lord.

24And to Shemaiah of Nehelam, you shall say:

25Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Similarly, you have sent letters in your name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying:

26‘The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada, the priest, so that you would be the ruler in the house of the Lord over every man who raves and prophesies, to send him to the stocks and to prison.

27And now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?

28For about this, he has sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long time. Build houses and live in them. And plant gardens, and eat from their fruits.’ ”

29Thus, Zephaniah, the priest, read this letter, in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.

30And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:

31“Send to all those of the transmigration, saying: Thus says the Lord to Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and because he has caused you to trust in a lie:

32For this reason, thus says the Lord: Behold, I will visit upon Shemaiah of Nehelam, and upon his offspring. There will not be, for him, even one man sitting in the midst of this people. And he will not see the good that I will accomplish for my people, says the Lord. For he has spoken a betrayal against the Lord.”