Jeremiah 29 (New American Standard)

Message to the Exiles

1 Now these are the words of the ¹letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King ²Jeconiah and the ³queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of ⁴Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 4 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have ⁵sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 5 '⁶Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their ^aproduce. 6 'Take ⁷wives and ^bbecome the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters ; and multiply there and do not decrease. 7 '⁸Seek the ^cwelfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ⁹pray to the LORD on its behalf ; for in its ^dwelfare you will have ^ewelfare.' 8 "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Do not let your ¹⁰prophets who are in your midst and your diviners ¹¹deceive you, and do not listen to ^f12the dreams which ^gthey dream. 9 'For they ¹³prophesy falsely to you in My name ; ¹⁴I have not sent them,' declares the LORD. 10 "For thus says the LORD, 'When ¹⁵seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My ¹⁶good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 'For I know the ¹⁷plans that I ^hhave for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for ¹⁸welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a ¹⁹hope. 12 'Then you will ²⁰call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will ²¹listen to you. 13 'You will ²²seek Me and find Me when you ²³search for Me with all your heart. 14 'I will be ²⁴found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will ²⁵restore your ⁱfortunes and will ²⁶gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will ²⁷bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.' 15 "Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up ²⁸prophets for us in Babylon '- 16 for thus says 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 ²⁹not go with you into exile - 17 thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I am sending upon them the ³⁰sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like ³¹split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. 18 'I will pursue them with the sword, with famine and with pestilence ; and I will ³²make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a ³³curse and a horror and a ³⁴hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they have ³⁵not listened to My words,' declares the LORD, 'which I sent to them again and again by ³⁶My servants the prophets ; but you did not listen,' declares the LORD. 20 "You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have ³⁷sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are ³⁸prophesying to you falsely in My name, 'Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will slay them before your eyes. 22 'Because of them a ³⁹curse will be ^jused by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon ⁴⁰roasted in the fire, 23 because they have ⁴¹acted foolishly in Israel, and ⁴²have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have ⁴³spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who ⁴⁴knows and am a witness," declares the LORD.' " 24 To ⁴⁵Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Because you have sent ⁴⁶letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to ⁴⁷Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 "The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the ^k48overseer in the house of the LORD over every ⁴⁹madman who ⁵⁰prophesies, to ⁵¹put him in the stocks and in the iron collar, 27 now then, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of ⁵²Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28 "For he has ⁵³sent to us in Babylon, saying, 'The exile will be ⁵⁴long ; ⁵⁵build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their ^lproduce.' ""' 29 ⁵⁶Zephaniah the priest read this letter ^mto Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying, 31 "Send to ⁵⁷all the exiles, saying, 'Thus says the LORD concerning ⁵⁸Shemaiah the Nehelamite, "Because Shemaiah has ⁵⁹prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has ⁶⁰made you trust in a lie," 32 therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am about to ⁶¹punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his ⁿdescendants ; he will ⁶²not have anyone living among this people, ⁶³and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people," declares the LORD, "because he has ^o64preached rebellion against the LORD.""'