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¹ Now these are the words of the letter that Yirmeyahu the prophet sent from Yerushalayim to the residue of the Zakenim of the captivity, and to the Kohanim, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nevukhadnetztzar had carried away captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel, ² (after that Yekhonyah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, [and] the princes of Yehudah and Yerushalayim, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Yerushalayim,) ³ by the hand of El`asah the son of Shafan, and Gemaryah the son of Hilkiyah, (whom Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah sent to Bavel to Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel,) saying, ⁴ Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel: ⁵ Build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. ⁶ Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply you there, and don't be diminished. ⁷ Seek the shalom of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in the shalom of it shall you have shalom.

⁸ For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Yisra'el: Don't let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen you to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. ⁹ For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them, says the LORD. ¹⁰ For thus says the LORD, After seventy years are accomplished for Bavel, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. ¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of shalom, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end. ¹² You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found of you, says the LORD, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places wither I have driven you, says the LORD; and I will bring you again to the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

¹⁵ Because you have said, the LORD has raised us up prophets in Bavel; ¹⁶ thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven't gone forth with you into captivity; ¹⁷ thus says the LORD of Hosts; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad. ¹⁸ 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 eretz, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them; ¹⁹ because they have not listened to my words, says the LORD, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says the LORD. ²⁰ Hear you therefore the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Yerushalayim to Bavel. ²¹ Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el, concerning Ach'av the son of Kolayah, and concerning Tzidkiyahu the son of Ma`aseyah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nevukhadretztzar king of Bavel; and he shall kill them before your eyes; ²² and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Yehudah who are in Bavel, saying, the LORD make you like Tzidkiyahu and like Ach'av, whom the king of Bavel roasted in the fire; ²³ because they have worked folly in Yisra'el, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn't command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness, says the LORD.

²⁴ Concerning Shemayah the Nechelami you shall speak, saying, ²⁵ Thus speaks the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el, saying, Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Yerushalayim, and to Tzefanyah the son of Ma`aseyah, the Kohen, and to all the Kohanim, saying, <sup>26</sup> The LORD has made you Kohen in the place of Yehoiada the Kohen, that there may be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. <sup>27</sup> Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Yirmeyahu of `Anatot, who makes himself a prophet to you, ²⁸ because he has sent to us in Bavel, saying, [The captivity] is long: build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them? ²⁹ Tzefanyah the Kohen read this letter in the ears of Yirmeyahu the prophet. ³⁰ Then came the word of the LORD to Yirmeyahu, saying, ³¹ Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemayah the Nechelami: Because Shemayah has prophesied to you, and I didn't send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie; ³² therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I will punish Shemayah the Nechelami, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to my people, says the LORD, because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.