Jeremiah 29
29
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles
1This is the text of the letter#2Sm 11:14–15; 1Kg 21:8–11 that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining exiled elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar#2Kg 24:11; 25:22; 2Ch 36:6–13 had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after King Jeconiah,#29:2 = Jehoiachin#Jr 24:1; 27:20; 28:4 the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had left Jerusalem. 3He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah,#1Ch 6:13 whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The letter stated:
4This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and live in them.#Jr 29:28 Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease.#Gn 17:5–6; 35:10–11 7Pursue the well-being#29:7 Or peace of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf,#Ezr 6:10; 1Tm 2:1–2 for when it thrives, you will thrive.”
8For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you#Jr 27:9 and your diviners deceive you,#Jr 27:15 and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, 9for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.”#Jr 5:31; 14:14; 20:6; 23:25–26,32; 27:10,14–16; 29:21,31 This is the Lord’s declaration.
10For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete,#Jr 25:12; Dn 9:2 I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you”#Ps 33:10; Jr 26:3; 36:3 — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.#Dt 30:1–10; Jr 3:12 13You will seek me#Dt 4:29; 1Ch 28:9; 2Ch 15:2 and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and I will restore your fortunes#29:14 Or will end your captivity#Jb 42:10; Jr 32:44; 49:39; Ezk 16:53; 39:25; Hs 6:11; Zph 2:7 and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you” — this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.”#Dt 30:3; Jr 30:3
15You have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon!” 16But this is what the Lord says concerning the king sitting on David’s throne#Jr 17:25; 22:2,30; 36:30 and concerning all the people living in this city — that is, concerning your brothers who did not go with you into exile. 17This is what the Lord of Armies says: “I am about to send sword, famine, and plague against them,#Jr 14:12; 21:9; 24:10 and I will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad. 18I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth — a curse and a desolation, an object of scorn and a disgrace among all the nations#Dt 28:37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Jr 5:30; 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 42:18; 44:12,22; 49:17; 50:13; Mc 6:16; Zph 2:15 where I have banished them.#Dt 30:1; Jr 8:3; 16:15 19I will do this because they have not listened to my words” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “the words that I sent to them with my servants the prophets time and time again.#29:19 Lit prophets, rising up early and sending#Jr 7:13,25; 11:7; 25:3; 26:5; 32:33; 35:14–15; 44:4 And you too have not listened.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
20Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.#Jr 24:5 21This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, the ones prophesying a lie to you in my name:#Jr 14:14; 29:9 “I am about to hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes. 22Based on what happens to them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will create a curse#Is 65:15 that says, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire! ’ #Dn 3:6 23because they have committed an outrage#Gn 34:7; Dt 22:21; Jos 7:15 in Israel by committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken in my name a lie, which I did not command them. I am he who knows, and I am a witness.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
24To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you are to say, 25“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You#29:25 Lit Because you in your own name have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah#Jr 21:1; 37:3; 52:24–27 son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying, 26‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be the chief officer#2Ch 31:13; Jr 20:1 in the temple of the Lord, responsible for every madman#2Kg 9:11; Hs 9:7 who acts like a prophet. You must confine him in the stocks#2Ch 16:10; Jr 20:2 and an iron collar. 27So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who has been acting like a prophet among you?#Jr 1:1 28For he has sent word to us in Babylon, claiming, “The exile will be long. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce.”’” #Jr 29:5
29The priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah.
A Message about Shemaiah
30Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31“Send a message to all the exiles, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and made you trust a lie,#Jr 27:10,14–16; 28:15; 29:9,21,23 32this is what the Lord says: I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. There will not be even one of his descendants living among these people,#Jr 17:6 nor will any ever see the good that I will bring to my people — this is the Lord’s declaration — for he has preached rebellion against the Lord.’”#Jr 28:16
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah 29
29
A Letter to the Exiles
1Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. 2This was after King Jehoiachin,#29:2 Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin. the queen mother, the court officials, the other officials of Judah, and all the craftsmen and artisans had been deported from Jerusalem. 3He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah’s ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah’s letter said:
4This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
8This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, 9because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord.
10This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
15You claim that the Lord has raised up prophets for you in Babylon. 16But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem—your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon. 17This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, too rotten to eat. 18Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery. 19For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent. And you who are in exile have not listened either,” says the Lord.
20Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord, all you captives there in Babylon. 21This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about your prophets—Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah—who are telling you lies in my name: “I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar#29:21 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar. for execution before your eyes. 22Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’ 23For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name, saying things I did not command. I am a witness to this. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
A Message for Shemaiah
24The Lord sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon: 25“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem. You wrote to Zephaniah,
26“The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the house of the Lord. You are responsible to put into stocks and neck irons any crazy man who claims to be a prophet. 27So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you? 28Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon, predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said, ‘Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.’”
29But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah’s letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him. 30Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: 31“Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing his lies, 32I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for he has incited you to rebel against me. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”
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