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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Jeremiah 29: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah 29
29
1 And these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem to the remnant of the elders of the transmigration, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had led away from Jerusalem to Babylon,
2 after king Jeconiah, with the queen, and the eunuchs, and the leaders of Judah and of Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and engravers, had departed from Jerusalem.
3 It was sent by the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and by Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, saying:
4 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who have been taken away, whom I have caused to be transferred from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build houses and live in them. And plant gardens, and eat from their fruit.
6 Take wives, and conceive sons and daughters. And give wives to your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters. And be multiplied there, and do not choose to be few in number.
7 And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be taken away, and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For your peace will be in its peace.
8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not allow your prophets and your diviners, who are in your midst, to seduce you. And you should pay no attention to your dreams, which you are dreaming.
9 For they prophesy falsely to you in my name, and I have not sent them, says the Lord.
10 For thus says the Lord: When the seventy years will begin to be completed in Babylon, I will visit you. And I will raise up over you my good word, so that I may lead you back to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.
12 And you shall call upon me, and you shall go forth. And you shall pray to me, and I will heed you.
13 You shall seek me. And you will find me, when you have sought me with your whole heart.
14 And I will be found by you, says the Lord. And I will lead you back from your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations and all the places, to which I have expelled you, says the Lord. And I will return you from the place to which I sent you into captivity.
15 For you have said: 'The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.'
16 For thus says the Lord, to the king who sits upon the throne of David, and to all the people who live in this city, to your brothers who have not departed with you in the transmigration:
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send among them the sword, and famine, and pestilence. And I will make them like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.
18 And I will pursue them with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence. And I will give them over to affliction, amid all the kingdoms of the earth: as a curse, and in stupor, and with hissing, and as a disgrace among all the nations to which I have driven them out.
19 For they have not listened to my words, says the Lord, which I sent to them through my servants, the prophets, rising while it was still night, and sending. But you have not listened, says the Lord.
20 Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord, all you of the transmigration, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem into Babylon.
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and to Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsely to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.
22 And a curse will be taken up about them, by all the captives of Judah that are in Babylon, saying: 'May the Lord make you like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire!'
23 For they have acted foolishly in Israel, and they have committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and they have spoken lying words in my name, which I did not command them. I am the Judge and the Witness, says the Lord.
24 And to Shemaiah of Nehelam, you shall say:
25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Similarly, you have sent letters in your name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying:
26 'The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada, the priest, so that you would be the ruler in the house of the Lord over every man who raves and prophesies, to send him to the stocks and to prison.
27 And now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?
28 For about this, he has sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long time. Build houses and live in them. And plant gardens, and eat from their fruits.' "
29 Thus, Zephaniah, the priest, read this letter, in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
31 "Send to all those of the transmigration, saying: Thus says the Lord to Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and because he has caused you to trust in a lie:
32 For this reason, thus says the Lord: Behold, I will visit upon Shemaiah of Nehelam, and upon his offspring. There will not be, for him, even one man sitting in the midst of this people. And he will not see the good that I will accomplish for my people, says the Lord. For he has spoken a betrayal against the Lord."
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