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
A Letter to the Jews in Babylon
1Jeremiah the prophet sent a letter to the people taken as captives to Babylon. He sent it to the elders who were among the captives, the priests and the prophets. And he sent it to all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2(This letter was sent after all these people were taken away: Jehoiachin and the queen mother; the officers and leaders of Judah and Jerusalem; and the craftsmen and metalworkers.) 3Zedekiah king of Judah had sent Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah to King Nebuchadnezzar. So Jeremiah gave the letter to them to take to Babylon. This is what the letter said:
4This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says to all those people he sent away from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon: 5“Build houses and settle in the land. Plant gardens and eat the food you grow. 6Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons. Let your daughters be married so they may also 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 where I sent you as captives. Pray to the Lord for the city where you are living. If there is peace in that city, you will have peace also.” 8The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets and the people who do magic fool you. Don’t listen to their dreams. 9They are prophesying lies. And they are saying that their message is from me. But I did not send them,” says the Lord.
10This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for 70 years. After that time I will come to you who are living in Babylon. I will keep my promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. 11I say this because I know what I have planned for you,” says 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,” says 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. I will gather you from the places I have sent you as captives,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back to this place.”
15You might say, “The Lord has given us prophets here in Babylon.”
16But the Lord says this about the king who is sitting on David’s throne now. And I’m also talking about all the other people still in Jerusalem. These are your relatives who did not go to Babylon with you. 17The Lord of heaven’s armies says: “I will soon send war, hunger and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat. 18I will chase them with war, hunger and terrible diseases. I will make them a hated people by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will speak evil of them. They will be shocked when they hear what has happened. And people will use them as a shameful example wherever I make them go. 19This is because those in Jerusalem have not listened to my message,” says 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 did not listen,” says the Lord.
20You captives, I forced you to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon. So listen to the message from the Lord. 21The Lord of heaven’s armies says this about Ahab son of Kolaiah. And he says it about Zedekiah son of Maaseiah: “These two men have been prophesying lies to you. They have said that their message is from me. But I will hand over those two prophets to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar will kill them in front of you who are captives in Babylon. 22Because of this, all the captives from Judah will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab. The king of Babylon burned them with fire.’ 23They have done evil things among the people of Israel. They are guilty of adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have also spoken lies. And they said those lies were a message from me, the Lord. I did not tell them to do that. I know what they have done. I am a witness!” says the Lord.
24Also give a message to Shemaiah. He is from the Nehelamite family. 25The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: “Shemaiah, you sent letters to all the people in Jerusalem. And you sent letters to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. You also sent letters to all the priests. You sent those letters in your own name. 26You said to Zephaniah, ‘The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Temple of the Lord. You should arrest any madman who acts like a prophet. You should lock the hands and feet of that person between wooden blocks. And put iron rings around his neck. 27Now Jeremiah from Anathoth is acting like a prophet. So why haven’t you arrested him? 28Jeremiah has sent this message to us in Babylon: You 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 the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah: 31“Send this message to all the captives in Babylon: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has prophesied to you, but I did not 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 Nehelamite. He will not see the good things I will do for my people, says the Lord. None of his family will be left alive among the people. This is because he has taught the people to turn against me.’”
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