Jeremiah 29

A letter to the exiles

1These are the words of the letter Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officers, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftworkers and smiths had left Jerusalem. 3He sent it through Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon. The letter said:

Build, plant, and seek the city’s well-being

4“The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says this to all the exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase there; do not dwindle. 7Seek the well-being of the city where I have exiled you, and pray to the LORD on its behalf. Its well-being will be your well-being.

8For the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to dream. 9They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I did not send them, declares the LORD.

A future after exile

10“For the LORD says: When seventy years are complete for Babylon, I will attend to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD—plans for well-being, not for harm, to give you a future and hope. 12Then you will call on me, come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you search for me with your whole heart. 14I will let you find me, declares the LORD. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I drove you, declares the LORD. I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.

Warnings at home and in Babylon

15“You have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.’ 16But this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David's throne and all the people living in this city, your brothers who did not go into exile with you. 17The LORD of hosts says: I am sending sword, famine, and plague against them. I will make them like rotten figs, so bad they cannot be eaten. 18I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, something to hiss at, and a reproach among all the nations where I drive them. 19They did not listen to my words, declares the LORD, though I sent my servants the prophets to them again and again. And you did not listen either, declares the LORD.

20“But you, all the exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of the LORD. 21The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says this about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes. 22All the exiles of Judah in Babylon will use their fate as a curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.’ 23For they have done an outrage in Israel: they committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and spoke lies in my name that I did not command them to speak. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.”

Shemaiah’s letter and its answer

24Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite: 25“The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. You wrote: 26‘The LORD has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, so that there will be officers in the house of the LORD to deal with every madman who acts as a prophet. You must put him in the stocks and the neck restraint. 27So why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who acts as a prophet among you? 28He has sent word to us in Babylon: “It will be a long time. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit.”’”

29Zephaniah the priest read this letter aloud to Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 31“Send this message to all the exiles: ‘The LORD says this about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah prophesied to you when I had not sent him, and made you trust a lie, 32the LORD says: I will call Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring to account. He will have no one living among this people, and he will not see the good I am going to do for my people, declares the LORD, because he has preached rebellion against the LORD.’”