Jeremiah 29
29
A Letter to the Captives in Babylon
1Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives in Babylon. He sent it to the elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2(This letter was sent after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the carpenters, and the metalworkers had been taken from Jerusalem.) 3King Zedekiah of Judah sent Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah to King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah gave them the letter to take to Babylon. This is what the letter said:
4This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says to all the people he sent into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and live in them. Settle in the land. Plant gardens and eat the food you grow. 6Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons, and let your daughters be married. Do this so that they also may have sons and daughters. Have many children and grow in number in Babylon. Don’t become fewer in number. 7Also, do good things for the city I sent you to. Pray to the Lord for the city you are living in, because if there is peace in that city, you will have peace also.” 8The Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says, “Don’t let your prophets and those who practice magic fool you. Don’t listen to the dreams they have. 9They are telling lies, and they are saying that their message is from me. But I didn’t send it.” This message is from the Lord.
10This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for 70 years. After that time, I will come to you people who are living in Babylon. I will keep my good promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. 11I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. 12Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. 14I will let you find me.” This message is from the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place. But I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have sent you,” says the Lord, “and I will bring you back to this place.”
15You people might say, “But the Lord has given us prophets here in Babylon.” 16But this is what the Lord says about your relatives who were not carried away to Babylon. I am talking about the king who is sitting on David’s throne now and all the other people who are still in the city of Jerusalem. 17The Lord All-Powerful says, “I will soon bring war, hunger, and disease against those who are still in Jerusalem. And I will make them the same as bad figs that are too rotten to eat. 18I will attack those who are still in Jerusalem with war, hunger, and disease. And I will cause such pain that all the kingdoms of the earth will be frightened at what has happened to those people. They will be destroyed. People will whistle with amazement when they hear what happened. And people will use them as an example when they ask for bad things to happen to people. People will insult them wherever I force them to go. 19I will make all these things happen because the people of Jerusalem have not listened to my message.” This message is from the Lord. “I sent my message to them again and again. I used my servants, the prophets, to give my messages to them, but they didn’t listen.” This message is from the Lord. 20“You people are captives. I forced you to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon. So listen to the message from the Lord.”
21This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah: “These two men have been telling you lies. They have said that their message is from me. I will give these two prophets to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And he will kill them in front of all you who are captives in Babylon. 22They will be an example of a terrible way to die. Yes, in the future, when the Jewish captives want something bad to happen to someone, they will say this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, those men the king of Babylon burned in the fire!’ 23They did very bad things among the people of Israel. They committed the sin of adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They also spoke lies and said those lies were a message from me. I did not tell them to do that. I know what they have done. I am a witness.” This message is from the Lord.
God’s Message to Shemaiah
24Also give a message to Shemaiah from the Nehelam family. 25This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Shemaiah, you sent letters to all the people in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. You also sent letters to all the priests. You sent those letters in your own name and not by my authority. 26Shemaiah, this is what you said in your letter to Zephaniah: ‘Zephaniah, the Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Lord’s Temple. You should arrest anyone who acts like a crazy person#29:26 crazy person Here, Shemaiah is referring to Jeremiah. See verses 27-28. and acts like a prophet. You should put that person’s feet between large blocks of wood and put neck irons#29:26 neck irons A ring made from iron. People put the rings around prisoners, necks. They often fastened a chain to the ring to control the prisoners. on him. 27Now Jeremiah is acting like a prophet. So why didn’t you arrest him? 28Jeremiah has sent this message to us in Babylon: You people in Babylon will be there for a long time, so build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow.’”
29Zephaniah the priest read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then this message from the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31“Jeremiah, send this message to all the captives in Babylon: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah, the man from the Nehelam family: Shemaiah has spoken to you, but I didn’t send him. He has made you believe a lie. 32Because Shemaiah has done that, this is what the Lord says: I will soon punish Shemaiah, the man from the Nehelam family. I will completely destroy his family, and he will not share in the good things I will do for my people.’” This message is from the Lord. “‘I will punish Shemaiah because he has taught the people to turn against the Lord.’”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Jeremiah 29
29
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Jews in Babylon
1Jeremiah the prophet sent a letter from Jerusalem to Babylon. It was for the Jewish elders still alive there. It was also for the priests and prophets in Babylon. And it was for all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2It was sent to them after King Jehoiachin had been forced to leave Jerusalem. His mother and the court officials were taken with him. The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem had been forced to go to Babylon. All the skilled workers had also been forced to go. 3Jeremiah gave the letter to Elasah and Gemariah. Elasah was the son of Shaphan. Gemariah was the son of Hilkiah. Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had sent Elasah and Gemariah to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Here is what the letter said.
4The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He speaks to all those he forced to go from Jerusalem to Babylon. He says, 5“Build houses and make your homes there. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Get married. Have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons. Give your daughters to be married. Then they too can have sons and daughters. Let there be many more of you and not fewer. 7Also work for the success of the city I have sent you to. Pray to the Lord for that city. If it succeeds, you too will enjoy success.” 8The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “Do not let the prophets trick you. Do not be fooled by those who claim to have secret knowledge. Do not listen to people who try to explain their dreams to you. 9All of them are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” announces the Lord.
10The Lord says, “You will be forced to live in Babylon for 70 years. After they are over, I will come to you. My good promise to you will come true. I will bring you back home. 11I know the plans I have for you,” announces the Lord. “I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come. 12Then you will call out to me. You will come and pray to me. And I will listen to you. 13When you look for me with all your heart, you will find me. 14I will be found by you,” announces the Lord. “And I will bring you back from where you were taken as prisoners. I will gather you from all the nations. I will gather you from the places where I have forced you to go,” announces the Lord. “I will bring you back to the place I sent you away from.”
15You might say, “The Lord has given us prophets in Babylon.” 16But here is what the Lord says about the king who now sits on David’s throne. He also says it about all the people who remain in this city. And he says it about all those who did not go with you to Babylon. 17The Lord who rules over all says, “I will send war, hunger and plague against them. I will make them like bad figs. They are so bad they can’t be eaten. 18I will hunt them down with war, hunger and plague. I will make all the kingdoms on earth displeased with them. They will use their name in a curse. All the nations where I drive them will be shocked at them. They will make fun of them. And they will bring shame on them. 19That’s because they have not listened to my words,” announces the Lord. “I sent messages to them again and again. I sent them through my servants the prophets. And you who were taken to Babylon have not listened either,” announces the Lord.
20So listen to the Lord’s message. Listen, all you whom he has sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He speaks about Ahab and Zedekiah. Ahab is the son of Kolaiah. Zedekiah is the son of Maaseiah. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. The Lord says about Ahab and Zedekiah, “I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He will put them to death. You will see it with your own eyes. 22Because of what happens to them, people will use their names when they curse someone. All those who have been taken from Judah to Babylon will use their names in that way. They will say, ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab. The king of Babylon burned them in the fire.’ 23That will happen because they have done awful things in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have spoken lies in my name. I did not give them the authority to speak those things. I know what they have done. And I am a witness to it,” announces the Lord.
Shemaiah Opposes Jeremiah
24Tell Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, 25“The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem. You also sent them to Zephaniah the priest. He is the son of Maaseiah. And you sent them to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, 26“The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada. He has put you in charge of the Lord’s house. You are supposed to arrest any crazy person who claims to be a prophet. You should put him in prison. You should put iron bands around his neck. 27So why haven’t you punished Jeremiah from Anathoth? He claims to be a prophet among you. 28He has sent a message to us in Babylon. It says, ‘You will be there a long time. So build houses and make your homes there. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.’ ” ’ ”
29But Zephaniah the priest read the letter to me. 30Then a message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, 31“Send a message to all the people who were taken away. Tell them, ‘The Lord speaks about Shemaiah, the Nehelamite. He says, “Shemaiah has prophesied to you. But I did not send him. He has made you trust in lies. 32So I say, ‘I will certainly punish Shemaiah, the Nehelamite. I will also punish his children after him. He will not have any children left among these people. I will do good things for my people. But he will not see them,’ ” ’ ” announces the Lord. “ ‘ “ ‘That’s because he has taught people to turn against me.’ ” ’ ”
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