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The Prophecy
of Jeremias 29
Now 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:
After 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 :
By 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:
Thus 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:
Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards,
and eat the fruit of them.
Take 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.
And 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.
For 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:
For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have
not sent them, saith the Lord.
For 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.
For 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.
And you shall call upon me, and you shall go: and you
shall pray to me, and I will hear you.
You shall seek me, and shall And me: when you shall
seek me with all your heart.
And 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.
Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets
in Babylon:
For 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.
Thus 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.
And 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:
Because 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.
Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the
captivity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Thus 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.
And 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 :
Because 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.
And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say:
Thus 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:
The Lord hath made thee priest in- stead 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.
And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite,
who prophesieth to you?
For 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.
So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing
of Jeremias the prophet.
And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
Send 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 :
Therefore 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. |
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