The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Jeremiah 29
1 Now these are the words of the letter that
Jeremiah the prophet sent from
Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of
the captivity, and to the priests, to the
prophets, and to all the people whom
Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive
from Jerusalem to Babylon,
2 (after Jeconiah the king, the queen
mother, the eunuchs, the princes of
Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the
smiths had departed from Jerusalem),
3 by the hand of Elasah the son of
Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah,
(whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to
Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). It said:
4 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel,
says to all the captives whom I have
caused to be carried away captive from
Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 “Build houses and dwell in them.
Plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6 Take wives and father sons and
daughters. Take wives for your sons, and
give your daughters to husbands, that they
may bear sons and daughters. Multiply
there, and don’t be diminished.
7 Seek the peace of the city where I
have caused you to be carried away
captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its
peace you will have peace.”
8 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of
Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who
are among you and your diviners deceive
you. Don’tlistento your dreams whichyou
cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy falsely to you in
my name. I have not sent them,” says
Yahweh.
10 For Yahweh says, “After seventy
years are accomplished for Babylon, I will
visit you and perform my good word
toward you, in causing you to return to this
place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of
peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and
a future.
12 Youshall call onme, and youshall go
and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You shall seek me andfind me, when
you search for me with all your heart.
14 I willbe foundby you,” saysYahweh,
“and I will turn again your captivity, and
I will gather you from all the nations, and
from all the places where I have driven
you,” says Yahweh. “I will bring you again
to the place from where I caused you to be
carried away captive.”
15 Because you have said, “Yahweh has
raised us up prophets in Babylon,”
16 Yahweh says concerning the king
who sits on David’s throne, and
concerning all the people who dwell in this city,
your brothers who haven’t gone with you
into captivity,
17 Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I
will send on them the sword, the famine,
andthepestilence, and willmake themlike
rotten figs that can’t be eaten, they are so
bad.
18 I will pursue after them with the
sword, with the famine, and with the
pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed
back and forth among all the kingdoms
of the earth, to be an object of horror, an
astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach
among all the nations where I have driven
them,
19 because theyhavenotlistened tomy
words,” says Yahweh, “with which I sent to
them my servants the prophets, rising up
early and sending them; but you would not
hear,” says Yahweh.
20 Hear therefore Yahweh’s word, all
you captives whom I have sent away
from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel,
says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah,
and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah,
who prophesy a lie to you in my
name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the
hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;
and he will kill them before your eyes.
22 A curse will be taken up about them by all
the captives of Judah who are in
Babylon, saying, ‘Yahweh make you like
Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of
Babylon roasted in the fire;’
23 because they have done foolish
things in Israel, and have committed adultery
with their neighbors’ wives, and have
spoken words in my name falsely, which
I didn’t command them. I am he who
knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.
24 Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite
you shall speak, saying,
25 “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel,
says, ‘Because you have sentletters in your
own name to all the people who are at
Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of
Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests,
saying,
26 “Yahweh has made you priest in the
place ofJehoiada the priest, that there may
be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every
man who is crazy and makes himself a
prophet, that you should put him in the
stocks and in shackles.
27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked
Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes
himself a prophet to you,
28 because he has sent to us in Babylon,
saying, The captivity is long. Build houses,
and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat
their fruit?
29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in
the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then Yahweh’s word came to
Jeremiah, saying,
31 “Send to all of the captives, saying,
‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah
the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has
prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him,
and he has caused you to trust in a lie,”
32 therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will
punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his
offspring. He will not have a man to dwell
among this people. He won’t see the good
that I will do to my people,” says Yahweh,
“because he has spoken rebellion against
Yahweh.” ’ ”