Jeremiah 29

A Letter to the Exiles

29Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.H1697H5612H3414H5030H7971H3389H3499H2205H1473H3548H5030H5971H5019H1540H3389H8942This was after King Jehoiachin

, the queen mother, the court officials, the other officials of Judah, and all the craftsmen and artisans had been deported from Jerusalem.H310H3204H4428H1377H5631H8269H3063H3389H2796H4525H3318H33893He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah’s ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah’s letter said.H3027H501H1121H8227H1587H1121H2518H6667H4428H3063H7971H894H5019H4428H894H5594This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem:H559H3068H6635H430H3478H1473H1540H3389H8945“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.H1129H1004H3427H5193H1593H398H65296Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!H3947H802H3205H1121H1323H3947H802H1121H5414H1323H582H3205H1121H1121H7235H45917And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”H1875H7965H5892H1540H6419H3068H7965H79658This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams,H559H3068H6635H430H3478H5030H7080H7130H5377H8085H2472H24929because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord.H5012H8267H8034H7971H5002H306810This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.H559H3068H6310H7657H8141H4390H894H6485H6965H2896H1697H7725H472511For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.H3045H4284H2803H5002H3068H4284H7965H7451H5414H8615H31912In those days when you pray, I will listen.H7121H1980H6419H808513If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.H1245H4672H1875H382414I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”H4672H5002H3068H7725H7622H7622H6908H1471H4725H5080H5002H3068H7725H4725H154015You claim that the Lord has raised up prophets for you in Babylon.H559H3068H6965H5030H89416But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem—your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon.H559H3068H4428H3427H3678H1732H5971H3427H5892H251H3318H147317This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, too rotten to eat.H559H3068H6635H7971H2719H7458H1698H5414H8182H8384H398H745518Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery.H7291H310H2719H7458H1698H5414H2189H2113H4467H776H423H8047H8322H2781H1471H508019For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent. And you who are in exile have not listened either,” says the Lord.H8085H1697H5002H3068H7971H5650H5030H7925H7971H8085H5002H306820Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord, all you captives there in Babylon.H8085H1697H3068H1473H7971H3389H89421This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about your prophets—Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah—who are telling you lies in my name: “I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar

for execution before your eyes.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H256H1121H6964H6667H1121H4641H5012H8267H8034H5414H3027H5019H4428H894H5221H586922Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’H3947H7045H1546H3063H894H559H3068H7760H6667H256H4428H894H7033H78423For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name, saying things I did not command. I am a witness to this. I, the Lord, have spoken.”H6213H5039H3478H6213H5003H7453H802H1696H8267H1697H8034H6680H3045H5707H5002H3068

A Message for Shemaiah

24The Lord sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon:H559H8098H5161H55925“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem. You wrote to Zephaniah,H559H3068H6635H430H3478H559H7971H5612H8034H5971H3389H6846H1121H4641H3548H3548H55926“The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the house of the Lord. You are responsible to put into stocks and neck irons any crazy man who claims to be a prophet.H3068H5414H3548H3077H3548H6496H1004H3068H376H7696H5012H5414H4115H672927So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you?H1605H3414H6069H501228Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon, predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said, ‘Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.’”H7971H894H559H1931H752H1129H1004H3427H5193H1593H398H652929But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah’s letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him.H6846H3548H7121H5612H241H3414H503030Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:H1697H3068H3414H55931“Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing his lies,H7971H1473H559H559H3068H8098H5161H8098H5012H7971H982H826732I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for he has incited you to rebel against me. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”H559H3068H6485H8098H5161H2233H376H3427H8432H5971H7200H2896H6213H5971H5002H3068H1696H5627H3068