Jeremiah 29
29
Letter to the Exiles in Babylon. 1These are the words of the scroll which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans and smiths had left Jerusalem.#2 Kgs 24:15. 3Delivered in Babylon by Elasah,#Elasah: probably the brother of Ahikam (cf. 26:24). Gemariah: probably the son of the high priest Hilkiah; cf. 2 Kgs 22:4. Zedekiah had dispatched these men to Nebuchadnezzar for some other purpose, possibly the payment of tribute, but Jeremiah took advantage of their mission to send his letter with them. son of Shaphan, and by Gemariah, son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Babylon, the letter read:
4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruits. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters. Increase there; do not decrease. 7Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the Lord, for upon its welfare your own depends.#1 Tm 2:1–2. 8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners who are among you; do not listen to those among you who dream dreams,#Jer 27:9, 14. 9for they prophesy lies to you in my name; I did not send them—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 5:31.
10For thus says the Lord: Only after seventy years have elapsed for Babylon will I deal with you and fulfill for you my promise to bring you back to this place.#Jer 25:11; 2 Chr 36:21–22; Ezr 1:1; Dn 9:2; Zec 1:12; 7:5. 11For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. 12When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you.#Jer 33:3. 13When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, 14I will let you find me—oracle of the Lord—and I will change your lot; I will gather you together from all the nations and all the places to which I have banished you—oracle of the Lord—and bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you.#Jer 23:3, 8. 15As for your saying, “The Lord has raised up for us prophets here in Babylon”—
16Thus says the Lord concerning the king sitting on David’s throne and all the people living in this city, your kinsmen who did not go with you into exile; 17thus says the Lord of hosts: I am sending against them sword, famine, and pestilence. I will make them like rotten figs, so spoiled that they cannot be eaten. 18I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, a desolation, a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations among which I have banished them,#Jer 15:4; 24:9; 34:17–18. 19because they did not listen to my words—oracle of the Lord—even though I kept sending them my servants the prophets, but they would not listen to them—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 25:4.
20As for you, listen to the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab, son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, son of Maaseiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: I am handing them over to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who will kill them before your eyes.#Jer 14:14. 22And because of them this curse will be used by all the exiles of Judah in Babylon: “May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in fire,” 23because they have committed an outrage in Israel, committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and alleging in my name things I did not command. I know, I am witness—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 23:14.
The False Prophet Shemaiah. 24To Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, say: 25Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you sent documents in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah, the priest, son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests saying: 26#Jeremiah’s message to Shemaiah is not completely preserved in the current Hebrew text, hence the incomplete sentence in vv. 25–28. “It is the Lord who has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada, to provide officers for the house of the Lord, that you may confine in stocks or pillory any madman who poses as a prophet. 27Why, then, have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who poses as a prophet among you? 28For he sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time; build houses to live in; plant gardens and eat their fruit. . . .”
29When the priest Zephaniah read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet, 30the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31Send to all the exiles: Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah, the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah prophesies to you, although I did not send him, and has led you to rely on a lie, 32therefore thus says the Lord, I will punish Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, and his descendants. None of them shall dwell among this people to see the good I will do for this people—oracle of the Lord—because he preached rebellion against the Lord.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Jeremiah 29
29
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Captives
1Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were #Jer. 27:20carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2(This happened after #2 Kin. 24:12–16; 2 Chr. 36:9, 10; Jer. 22:24–28Jeconiah the king, the #2 Kin. 24:12, 15; Jer. 13:18queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) 3The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of #2 Chr. 34:8Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,
4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6Take 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—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. 7And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, #Ezra 6:10; Neh. 1:4–11; Dan. 9:16; 1 Tim. 2:2and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. 8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst #Jer. 14:14; 23:21; 27:14, 15; Eph. 5:6deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. 9For they prophesy #Jer. 28:15; 37:19falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.
10For thus says the Lord: After #2 Chr. 36:21–23; Ezra 1:1–4; Jer. 25:12; 27:22; Dan. 9:2; Zech. 7:5seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to #(Jer. 24:6, 7); Zeph. 2:7return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will #Ps. 50:15; Jer. 33:3; Dan. 9:3call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will #Ps. 145:19listen to you. 13And #Lev. 26:39–42; Deut. 30:1–3you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me #1 Chr. 22:19; 2 Chr. 22:9; Jer. 24:7with all your heart. 14#(Deut. 4:7); Ps. 32:6; 46:1; (Is. 55:6, 7); Jer. 24:7I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; #Is. 43:5, 6; Jer. 23:8; 32:37I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause 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, 17–23therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity— 17thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like #Jer. 24:3, 8–10rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. 18And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I #Deut. 28:25; 2 Chr. 29:8; Jer. 15:4; 24:9; 34:17; Ezek. 12:15will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be #Jer. 26:6; 42:18a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which #Jer. 25:4; 26:5; 35:15I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord. 20Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a #Jer. 14:14, 15; Lam. 2:14; 2 Pet. 2:1lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. 22#Gen. 48:20; Is. 65:15And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, #Dan. 3:6, 21whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”; 23because #Jer. 23:14they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I #(Prov. 5:21; Jer. 16:17); Mal. 3:5; (Heb. 4:13)know, and am a witness, says the Lord.
24You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, 25Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, #2 Kin. 25:18; Jer. 21:1to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26“The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be #Jer. 20:1officers in the house of the Lord over every man who is #2 Kin. 9:11; Hos. 9:7; Mark 3:21; John 10:20; Acts 26:24; (2 Cor. 5:13)demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should #Jer. 20:1, 2; Acts 16:24put him in prison and in the stocks. 27Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you? 28For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ”
29Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 31Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, #Jer. 28:15and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a #Ezek. 13:8–16, 22, 23lie— 32therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the Lord, #Jer. 28:16because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.