Jeremiah 29
29
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles
1These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to #Ezek. 8:1 the surviving elders of the exiles, and to #[ch. 23:33]the priests, #[ch. 23:33]the prophets, and #[ch. 23:33]all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after #ch. 24:1; 2 Kgs. 24:12, 14King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of #2 Chr. 34:8 Shaphan and Gemariah the son of #1 Chr. 6:13Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5#ver. 28Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and #[Ezra 6:10; 1 Tim. 2:1, 2]pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: #[ch. 5:31; 6:14] Do not let your prophets and #ch. 27:9, 15your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,#29:8 Hebrew your dreams, which you cause to dream 9for #See ch. 5:31 it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; #ver. 31I did not send them, declares the Lord.
10“For thus says the Lord: #See ch. 25:12 When seventy years are completed for Babylon, #ch. 27:22 I will visit you, #ch. 33:14; [ch. 24:6]and I will fulfill to you my promise #ch. 33:14; [ch. 24:6]and bring you back to this place. 11#[Isa. 55:8, 9] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare#29:11 Or peace and not for evil, #ch. 31:17to give you a future and a hope. 12#ch. 33:3; Dan. 9:3Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, #ch. 33:3; Dan. 9:3and I will hear you. 13#2 Chr. 15:2; Ps. 32:6; 78:34; Prov. 8:17; Isa. 55:6; Hos. 3:5; See Lev. 26:39-42; Deut. 30:1-3 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me #ch. 24:7; Deut. 4:29with all your heart. 14I will be found by you, declares the Lord, #ch. 30:3 and I will restore your fortunes and #See ch. 23:3 gather you from all the nations and all the places #See ch. 8:3where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
15“Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ 16thus says the Lord concerning #See ch. 22:2the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 17‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them #See ch. 24:10 sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like #ch. 24:8vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. 18I will pursue them with #[See ver. 17 above] sword, famine, and pestilence, #See ch. 15:4 and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, #ch. 18:16; 42:18; See ch. 24:9 to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations #[See ver. 14 above]where I have driven them, 19because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, #See ch. 25:4that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ 20Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles #ch. 24:5whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, #ver. 9; See ch. 14:14who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22#See Isa. 65:15 Because of them #See ch. 24:9 this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, #[Dan. 3:6]whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, #ch. 23:14 they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and #ch. 23:14 they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. #Mal. 3:5I am the one who knows, #Mal. 3:5and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”
Shemaiah’s False Prophecy
24To #ver. 31, 32Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: 25“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to #ch. 21:1; 2 Kgs. 25:18 Zephaniah the son of #ch. 35:4Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have #[ch. 20:1] charge in the house of the Lord #[2 Kgs. 9:11; Acts 26:24] over every madman who prophesies, to put him in #ch. 20:2the stocks and neck irons. 27Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah #ch. 1:1; 32:7of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? 28For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; #ver. 5build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”
29 # [See ver. 25 above] Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30#ver. 1, 20Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31“Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning #ver. 24 Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because #ver. 24 Shemaiah had prophesied to you #ver. 9; See ch. 5:31when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, 32therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish #[See ver. 31 above] Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, #See ch. 17:6 and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, #ch. 28:16for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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Jeremiah 29
29
1And these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon 2(after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem); 3by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkijah (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying, 4Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel, unto all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon: 5Build houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 6Take wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and be not diminished. 7And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto Jehovah for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
8For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in your midst, nor your diviners deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams, which ye like to dream. 9For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith Jehovah. 10For thus saith Jehovah: When seventy years shall be accomplished for Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in bringing you back to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you in your latter end a hope. 12And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you; 13and ye shall seek me and find me, for ye shall search for me with all your heart, 14and I will be found of you, saith Jehovah. And I will turn your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again into the place whence I have caused you to be carried away captive.
15If ye say, Jehovah hath raised us up prophets in Babylon; 16yea, thus saith Jehovah concerning the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people that dwell in this city, your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; 17thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will send against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like the vile figs, that cannot be eaten for badness. 18And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will give them over to be driven hither and thither into all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I will drive them: 19because they have not hearkened to my words, saith Jehovah, wherewith I sent unto them my servants the prophets, rising early and sending; but ye have not hearkened, saith Jehovah. 20But ye, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of Jehovah. 21Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsehood unto you in my name: Behold, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall smite them before your eyes. 22And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; 23because they have committed infamy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken words of falsehood in my name, which I had not commanded them: and I am he that knoweth, and amwitness, saith Jehovah.
24And thou shalt speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, 25Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26Jehovah hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there should be officers in the house of Jehovah, over every madman and self-made prophet, that thou shouldest put him in the stocks and in the shackles. 27And now, why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh himself a prophet to you? 28Forasmuch as he hath sent unto us in Babylon, saying, It will be long; build houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 29— And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of the prophet Jeremiah. 30And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying, 31Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he hath caused you to trust in falsehood; 32therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he see the good that I will do for my people, saith Jehovah; because he hath spoken revolt against Jehovah.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.