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I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
– Deuteronomy 18:18-22

In recent chapters the stories have seemingly bounced around haphazardly but the theme is constant: Jeremiah has been competing for the ear and trust of his people. The loneliness that he expresses is compatible with his experience. But consider for a moment the troubling times we’re reading about.

Imagine life for the residents of Jerusalem. When Babylon was rounding up their country’s leading citizens, those left behind were not wealthy, connected, or skilled enough to deport. Their nation and king know peace only as long as they bow to Babylon’s yoke. Prophets are plentiful, promising that soon their kingdom, pride, and fortunes will be restored. Only Jeremiah warns that the worst is yet to come. Whom should they believe?

Imagine life for the exiles in Babylon. They existed in a strange limbo between prison and freedom, restricted from returning home yet permitted to function, in some ways, as contributing citizens of their new land. As in Jerusalem, most of the prophets foretell a quick end to their troubles. Yet Jeremiah promises seventy years? What emotions, desires, and experience factor into deciding which message to trust?

This stuff is heavy. The story is real. Confusion and despair make sense. Stick with it so you can feel the weight of it. And remember that Jeremiah’s been doing this for decades.

Our verse for this week is Hebrews 8:10: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 28 through 30. Now let’s read it!

Jeremiah 28 - 30

That same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in Jehovah's house, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, "Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel, says, 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of Jehovah's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon,' says Jehovah; 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'" Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in Jehovah's house, even the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May Jehovah do so. May Jehovah perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jehovah's house, and all those who are captives, from Babylon to this place. Nevertheless listen now to this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people: The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, of evil, and of pestilence. As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet happens, then the prophet will be known, that Jehovah has truly sent him." Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it. Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Jehovah says: 'Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two full years.'" Then the prophet Jeremiah went his way. Then Jehovah's word came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, 'Jehovah says, "You have broken the bars of wood, but you have made in their place bars of iron." For Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel says, "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. I have also given him the animals of the field."'" Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, "Listen, Hananiah! Jehovah has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. Therefore Jehovah says, 'Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken rebellion against Jehovah.'" So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, (after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem), by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). It said: Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don't be diminished. Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Jehovah for it; for in its peace you will have peace." For Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel says: "Don't let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you. Don't listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them," says Jehovah. For Jehovah says, "After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says Jehovah, "thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you," says Jehovah, "and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you," says Jehovah. "I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive." Because you have said, "Jehovah has raised us up prophets in Babylon," Jehovah says concerning the king who sits on David's throne, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven't gone with you into captivity, Jehovah of Armies says: "Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that can't be eaten, they are so bad. I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not listened to my words," says Jehovah, "with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear," says Jehovah. Hear therefore Jehovah's word, all you captives whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: "Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes. A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, 'Jehovah make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;' because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn't command them. I am he who knows, and am witness," says Jehovah. Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, "Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel, says, 'Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, "Jehovah has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Jehovah's house, for every man who is crazy and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you, because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long. Build houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat their fruit?"'" Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. Then Jehovah's word came to Jeremiah, saying, "Send to all of the captives, saying, 'Jehovah says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: "Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn't send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie," therefore Jehovah says, "Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell among this people. He won't see the good that I will do to my people," says Jehovah, "because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah."'" The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, "Jehovah, the God of Israel, says, 'Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. For, behold, the days come,' says Jehovah, 'that I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,' says Jehovah. 'I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.'" These are the words that Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For Jehovah says: "We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale? Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it! It is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he will be saved out of it. It will come to pass in that day, says Jehovah of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their bondservants; but they will serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. Therefore don't be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Jehovah. Don't be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. For I am with you, says Jehovah, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished." For Jehovah says, "Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous. There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you. They don't seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased. Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured. All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will be plunder. I will make all who prey on you become prey. For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds," says Jehovah, "because they have called you an outcast, saying, 'It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.'" Jehovah says: "Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place. Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them. Their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?" says Jehovah. "You shall be my people, and I will be your God. Behold, Jehovah's storm, his wrath, has gone out, a sweeping storm; it will burst on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of Jehovah will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it."

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