Jeremiah 29
29
Jeremiah's Letter to the People of Judah in Babylonia
1-2 #
2 K 24.12-16; 2 Ch 36.10. I had been left in Jerusalem when King Nebuchadnezzar#29.1,2 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. took many of the people of Jerusalem and Judah to Babylonia as prisoners, including King Jehoiachin,#29.1,2 Jehoiachin: Hebrew “Jeconiah” (see the note at 24.1). his mother, his officials, and the metal workers and others in Jerusalem who were skilled in making things. So I wrote a letter to the priests, the prophets, the leaders, and the rest of our people in Babylonia. 3I gave the letter to Elasah and Gemariah,#29.3 Elasah and Gemariah: Hebrew “Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah.” two men that King Zedekiah#29.3 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3. of Judah was sending to Babylon to talk with Nebuchadnezzar. In the letter, I wrote 4that the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, had said:
I had you taken from Jerusalem to Babylonia. Now I tell you 5to settle there and build houses. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them. 6Get married and have children, then help your sons find wives and help your daughters find husbands, so they can have children as well. I want your numbers to grow, not to get smaller.
7Pray for peace in Babylonia and work hard to make it prosperous. The more successful that nation is, the better off you will be.
8-9Some of your people there in Babylonia are fortunetellers, and you have asked them to tell you what will happen in the future. But they will only lead you astray with their dreams.#29.8,9 their dreams: Hebrew “your dreams.” And don't let the prophets fool you, either. They speak in my name, but they are liars. I have not spoken to them.
10 #
2 Ch 36.21; Jr 25.11; Dn 9.1,2. After Babylonia has been the strongest nation for 70 years, I will be kind and bring you back to Jerusalem, just as I have promised. 11I will bless you with a future filled with hope—a future of success, not of suffering. 12You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers. 13#Dt 4.29,30; Ws 6.12,13. You will worship me with all your heart, and I will be with you 14and accept your worship. Then I will gather you from all the nations where I scattered you, and you will return to Jerusalem.
15You feel secure, because you think I have sent prophets to speak for me in Babylonia.
16-19But I have been sending prophets to the people of Judah for a long time, and the king from David's family and the people who are left in Jerusalem and Judah still don't obey me. So I, the Lord All-Powerful, will keep attacking them with war and hunger and disease, until they are as useless as rotten figs. I will force them to leave the land, and all nations will be disgusted and shocked at what happens to them. The nations will sneer and make fun of them and use the names “Judah” and “Jerusalem” as curse words.
And you have not obeyed me, even though 20I had you taken from Jerusalem to Babylonia. But you had better listen to me now. 21-23You think Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah are prophets because they claim to speak for me. But they are lying! I haven't told them anything. They are also committing other horrible sins in your community, such as sleeping with the wives of their friends. So I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar, who will put them to death while the rest of you watch. And in the future, when you want to put a curse on someone, you will say, “I pray that the Lord will kill you in the same way the king of Babylonia burned Zedekiah and Ahab to death!”
A Message for Shemaiah
24-25The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, told me what would happen to Shemaiah,#29.24,25 Shemaiah: Hebrew “Shemaiah, who came from the town of Nehelam.” who was one of our people in Babylonia. After my letter reached Babylonia, Shemaiah wrote letters to the people of Jerusalem, including the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and the other priests. The letter to Zephaniah said:
26After the death of Jehoiada the priest, the Lord chose you to be the priest in charge of the temple security force. You know that anyone who acts crazy and pretends to be a prophet should be arrested and put in chains#29.26 in chains: See the note at 20.2. and iron collars. 27Jeremiah from the town of Anathoth is pretending to be a prophet there in Jerusalem, so why haven't you punished him? 28He even wrote a letter to the people here in Babylonia, saying we would be here a long time. He told us to build homes and to plant gardens and grow our own food.
29When Zephaniah received Shemaiah's letter, he read it to me. 30Then the Lord told me what to write in a second letter 31to the people of Judah who had been taken to Babylonia. In this letter, I wrote that the Lord had said:
I, the Lord, have not chosen Shemaiah to be one of my prophets, and he has misled you by telling lies in my name. 32He has even talked you into disobeying me. So I will punish Shemaiah. He and his descendants won't live to see the good things I will do for my people. I, the Lord, have spoken.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 29
29
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles
1#Est 9:20Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the captivity, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2#Jer 22:24–28; 2Ki 24:12–16(This was after Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) 3It was sent by 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), saying:
4#Jer 24:5Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all who have been carried away captive whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5#Jer 29:28Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6#Jer 16:2–4Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; so that you may increase there and not diminish. 7#Ezr 6:10; 1Ti 2:1–2Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. 8#Jer 5:31; 14:14For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 9#Jer 27:15; 29:31For they prophesy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them, says the Lord.
10#Jer 25:12; 27:22For thus says the Lord: When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11#Ps 40:5; Jer 30:18–22For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12#Jer 33:3; Ps 50:15Then you shall call upon Me, and you shall come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13#Jer 24:7; 2Ch 22:9You shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart. 14#Jer 30:3; Ps 32:6I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back into the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.
15Because you have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” 16#Jer 38:2–3; 38:17–23thus 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 did not go out with you into exile, 17#Jer 24:8–10; 29:18thus says the Lord of Hosts: I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten, they are so rotten. 18#2Ch 29:8; Jer 15:4I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an astonishment, a hissing and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19#Jer 6:19; 26:5because they have not listened to My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them. But you would not listen, says the Lord.
20#Jer 24:5; Mic 4:10Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you in captivity whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21#Jer 14:14–15; 29:8–9Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. 22#Da 3:6; Isa 65:15And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23#Jer 23:14; Mal 3:5because they have committed folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed, I know and am a witness, says the Lord.
A Message to Shemaiah
24#Jer 29:31–32Thus you shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying: 25#Jer 29:29; 37:3Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26#Jer 20:1–2; 2Ki 9:11; Hos 9:7The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, that you should be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man that is mad and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in prison. 27Now therefore why have you not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28#Jer 29:5For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “This captivity will be long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.”
29Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 31#Jer 29:9; 14:14–15Send to all the captives, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you though I did not send, and he caused you to trust in a lie, 32#Jer 28:16; 17:6therefore thus says the Lord: I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed. He will not have a man to dwell among this people, nor will he see the good that I will do for My people, says the Lord, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.
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