Jeremiah 29

¹These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles , and to the priests , the prophets , and all the people , whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon .

²This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother , the eunuchs , the officials of Judah and Jerusalem , the craftsmen , and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem .

³The letter was sent 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 :

⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel , to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon :

⁵Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce .

⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters ; take wives for your sons , and give your daughters in marriage , that they may bear sons and daughters ; multiply there , and do not decrease .

⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile , and pray to the Lord on its behalf , for in its welfare you will find your welfare .

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream ,

⁹for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name ; I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon , I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place .

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil , to give you a future and a hope .

¹²Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

¹³You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart .

¹⁴I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile .

¹⁵Because you have said , The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon ,

¹⁶thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David , and concerning all the people who dwell in this city , your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile :

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts , behold , I am sending on them sword , famine , and pestilence , and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten .

¹⁸I will pursue them with sword , famine , and pestilence , and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth , to be a curse , a terror , a hissing , and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,

¹⁹because they did not pay attention to my words , declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets , but you would not listen , declares the Lord.

²⁰Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon :

²¹Thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel , concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah , who are prophesying a lie to you in my name : Behold , I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon , and he shall strike them down before your eyes .

²²Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon : The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab , whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire ,

²³because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel , they have committed adultery with their neighbors ’ wives , and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows , and I am witness , declares the Lord.

²⁴To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say :

²⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem , and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest , and to all the priests , saying ,

²⁶The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest , to have charge in the house of the Lord over every madman who prophesies , to put him in the stocks and neck irons .

²⁷Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you?

²⁸For he has sent to us in Babylon , saying , Your exile will be long ; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce .

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

³⁰Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah :

³¹Send to all the exiles , saying , Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam : Because Shemaiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie ,

³²therefore thus says the Lord: Behold , I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants . He shall not have anyone living among this people , and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people , declares the Lord, for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.