1And these are the words of a letter that Jeremiah the Prophet sent from Jerusalem to Babel, to the rest of the Elders of the captivity and to the Priests and to the lying Prophets, and to all the people whom Nebukadnetsar, King of Babel, took captive from Jerusalem to Babel 2After Yokania the King and the Queen and the Eunuchs and the Princes of Judea and of Jerusalem and the Craftsmen and the Guards went out from Jerusalem 3By Elasa, son of Shaphan, and Gamaria, son of Khelqia, whom Tsedeqia King of Judea sent to Nebukadnetsar, King of Babel, to Babel 4Thus says LORD JEHOVAH of Hosts, God of Israel, to all the captivity that was taken captive from Jerusalem to Babel 5“Build houses and dwell and plant gardens and eat their produce 6Take wives and reproduce sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands and they will reproduce sons and daughters, and multiply there, and you shall not decrease 7And seek the peace of the city of your captivity there, and pray for it before LORD JEHOVAH, that in its peace, you shall have peace” 8For thus says LORD JEHOVAH of Hosts, God of Israel: “The Prophets who are among you and Soothsayers shall not deceive you, and you shall not pay attention to your dreams that you dream 9Because those prophesy a lie to you in my name, and I have not sent them, says LORD JEHOVAH

10Because thus says LORD JEHOVAH: ‘When seventy years are full to Babel, I shall save you and I shall establish for you the good word to return you to this country 11Because I know the thought that I think about you, says LORD JEHOVAH, the purpose of peace and not of harm, to give you hope to the end 12And you shall call me and you shall pray before me 13And when you will seek me from all your heart, you shall find me”, says LORD JEHOVAH 14And I shall return your captives, and I shall gather you from all the nations and from all lands where I scattered you, says LORD JEHOVAH, and I shall return you to the place from where I captured you

15Because you have said: ‘LORD JEHOVAH has raised up Prophets to us in Babel’” 16For thus says LORD JEHOVAH about the King who sits on the throne of David, and about all the people who dwell in this city: “Your brethren who did not go out with you into captivity 17Thus says LORD JEHOVAH of Hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending upon them sword and famine and plague, and I shall make them as bad figs that are not eaten, for their badness 18And I shall chase after them with the sword and with starvation and with plague, and I shall give them as a horror to all of the kingdoms of the Earth, an astonishment and a curse and a reproach and for hissing in all the nations where I led them 19Because they have not listened to my words, and I sent to them all my Servants the Prophets. I arose early and I sent, and they did not listen to them, says LORD JEHOVAH 20And hear the word of LORD JEHOVAH, all captives who were taken captive from Jerusalem to Babel

21Thus says LORD JEHOVAH of Hosts, God of Israel, about Ahab, son of Qulia, and about Tsedeqia, son of Massia, who prophesy to you in my name in falsehood: ‘Behold, I am handing them over into the hand of Nebukadnetsar, King of Babel, and he shall kill them by the sword in your sight 22And they shall be a curse to all the captives of Judea who are in Babel, and they shall say: ‘May LORD JEHOVAH make you as Tsedeqia and like Ahab whom the King of Babel broiled in fire!’ 23Because they had done evil in Israel, and they committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and they spoke words in my name in falsehood that I did not command them, and I know and I testify, says LORD JEHOVAH’

24And Shemaia the Nekhemalite said: 25“Thus says LORD JEHOVAH of Hosts, God of Israel”, and he sent in his name a letter to all the people who were in Jerusalem, and to Tsephania, son of Massia, the Priest, and to the Priests 26“LORD JEHOVAH has appointed you Priest in the place of Yewiyada the Priest, that you may be the Commander in the house of LORD JEHOVAH over every man who becomes a fool and prophesies with falsehood, and you shall throw him into the house of prisoners and into a cell 27And now, why do you not rebuke with Jeremiah who prophesies to you from Anathoth? 28For behold, he sent to us in Babel: "You shall be there long. Build households and dwell and plant gardens and eat their produce"

29And Tsephania the Priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the Prophet 30And the response of LORD JEHOVAH was to Jeremiah, saying: 31“Send to all the captivity, ‘Thus says LORD JEHOVAH to Shemaiah, the Nekhemalite, about what Shemaiah prophesied to you, which thing I did not send, and he has made you trust in falsehood 32Because of this, thus says LORD JEHOVAH: ‘Behold, I command concerning Shemaiah the Nekhemalite, and concerning his seed, that he will not have a man who dwells among this people, and he shall not see the goodness that I do for my people, says LORD JEHOVAH, because he speaks evil about LORD JEHOVAH’