Old Testament · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 29

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

1And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2after Jeconiah the king and the queen-mother and the officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsman and the smith, had gone out from Jerusalem, 3by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

4Thus said the LORD of hosts^a, the God of Israel, to all the exile that I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6Take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to men^b, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not become few. 7And seek the peace of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray for it to the LORD; for in its peace there shall be peace for you.

8For thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are in your midst, and your diviners, deceive you, and do not hear to your dreams that you cause to be dreamed. 9For with falsehood they are prophesying to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the LORD.

10For thus said the LORD: For at the fulfilling of seventy years for Babylon I will visit you, and I will establish upon you My good word, to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I am thinking toward you, declares the LORD—thoughts of peace and not of evil—to give you a future and a hope. 12And you shall call Me, and you shall go, and you shall pray to Me, and I will hear you. 13And you shall seek Me, and you shall find, for you shall search for Me with all your heart. 14And I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will turn back your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD; and I will bring you back to the place from where I exiled you.

15For you have said, the LORD has raised up for us prophets in Babylon. 16For thus said 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 the exile— 17thus said the LORD of hosts: Behold, I am sending against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten from badness. 18And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and a desolation and a hissing and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19because they did not hear to My words, declares the LORD, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets—rising early and sending—but you did not hear, declares the LORD.

20And you, hear the word of the LORD, all the exile whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you in My name falsehood: Behold, I am giving them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them before your eyes. 22And from them shall be taken a curse for all the exile of Judah that is in Babylon, saying, May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, 23because they did folly in Israel, and committed adultery with the wives^c of their neighbors, and spoke a word in My name falsely, which I did not command^d them; and I am the one who knows, and a witness, declares the LORD.

The Message to Shemaiah

24And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

26The LORD has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, to be officers in the house of the LORD for every man who is mad and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in the collar. 27And now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you? 28For because of this he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, It is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

29And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

30And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 31Send to all the exile, saying, Thus said the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he made you trust upon falsehood, 32therefore thus said the LORD: Behold, I am visiting upon Shemaiah the Nehelamite and upon his seed; he shall not have a man dwelling among this people, and he shall not see the good that I am doing for My people, declares the LORD, for he has spoken perversion against the LORD.