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1Now 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, 2(after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem), 3by 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:

4Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6Take 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. 7Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” 8For Yahweh 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. 9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says Yahweh. 10For Yahweh 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. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. 12You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” says Yahweh, “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 Yahweh. I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.”

15Because you have said, “Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon,” 16Yahweh 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, 17Yahweh 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. 18I 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, 19because they have not listened to my words,” says Yahweh, “with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,” says Yahweh.

20Hear therefore Yahweh’s word, all you captives whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21Yahweh 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. 22A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;’ 23because 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 Yahweh.

24Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25“Yahweh 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, 26“Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is crazy and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. 27Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you, 28because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long. Build houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat their fruit?”’”

29Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, saying, 31“Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh 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,” 32therefore Yahweh 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 Yahweh, “because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.”’”

Place

Hebron

Type
City
Location
31.524, 35.109
 Site Study | Brian Kvasnica

Beyond the important connections between Abraham, the other patriarchs, and the matriarchs centered around the Machpelah Cave (see above at Gen 23:3), Hebron continued to be a central city in Biblical history, earning the place of one of the four most sacred cities in Jewish tradition. Hebron was a city of refuge and a Levitical city (Josh 21:11-13 and 1 Chr 6:55-57)  as well as the place where David first centered his reign: at the pool (traditionally connected with Birket es-Sultan), David executed the two sons of Rimmon who had murdered Saul’s son Ishboshet (2 Sam 4:12); and  where David was crowned king (2 Sam 2:3-4; 5:5)  and reigned for 7 ½ years where six sons were born to him before conquering Jerusalem where he had 13 more sons.  Even after the Exile in the sixth century BC, Jews returned to Hebron (Neh 11:25) probably living alongside Edomites.  In the second-century BC Simon Maccabeus took Hebron from the Edomites (1 Macc 5:65; Josephus, Antiquities, XII, viii, 6) and in the Great revolt of AD 70, first Simon bar-Gioras captured the city (Josephus, War, IV, ix, 7), and then Vespasian’s general Cerealis conquered it, slaughtering its inhabitants and burning it (War IV, ix, 9).

Copyright © 2026 Brian Kvasnica. All rights reserved.

Hebron in the Land of Canaan

 Site Study | Brian Kvasnica | Hebron

23:2 Hebron was first built as a Canaanite city seven years prior to Zoan (Greek Tanis) in Egypt (Num 13:22) and is located 3,040 ft. above sea-level in the southern tribal allotment of Judah.  The city is also called Kiriath-Arba (Gen 23:2, etc.) possibly after a forefather of the Anakim (Josh 14:15; 15:13), or as of the four cities, thus “City-of-Four” (Hebrew arba, “four”; see Josh 15:54; 2 Sam 2:3; Neh 11:25). Here Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (Gen 17:5) and here (in conjunction with Mamre), came the three angels with the promise of a son (18:1 ff.).  At Hebron, Isaac and Jacob often lived (35:27; 37:14).  From Hebron Jacob sent Joseph to seek his brothers (37:14).  There also Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt (46:1).  Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah from Ephron in order to bury Sarah (Genesis 23), and Abraham himself was buried there (Gen 25:9-10), as was Isaac (Gen 35:27-29), and all the patriarchs and their wives except Rachel (49:30ff; 50:13).  Today the site is known as Tel Hebron or Jebel Rumeidah and is inhabited by a few dozen Jewish families after excavations were carried out by P.C. Hammond in the 1960’s but not published and in the 1980’s by A. Ofer as well as M. Anbar and N. Na’aman.  More recently Emanuel Eisenberg excavated the north side of the tell and Jeffrey Chadwick is beginning to write up Hammond’s report.  In Arabic today, the town is known as el Khalil ("the friend” of God), a favorite name for Abraham, as seen also in James 2:23.  The gigantic edifice built by Herod the Great still stands and is a place for many pilgrimages even today.  For later Biblical and post-biblical connections see further site study on Hebron at 1 Chr 3:1.

Copyright © 2026 Brian Kvasnica. All rights reserved.
Person & place data: Theographic Bible Metadata by Robert Rouse (Viz.Bible), CC BY-SA 4.0.