Jeremiah 29:1–23

JEREMIAH’S LETTER TO THE EXILES

29This is the text of the letterⁿ that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining exiled elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar^o had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²This was after King Jeconiah,^Ap the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had left Jerusalem. ³He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah,^q whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The letter stated:

⁴This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵“Build houses and live in them.^r Plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease.^{s 7}Pursue the well-being^B of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf,^t for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

⁸For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you^u and your diviners deceive you,^v and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, ⁹for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.”^a This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁰For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete,^b I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you”^c—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.^{d 13}You will seek me^e and find me when you search for me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes^Af and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.”^g

¹⁵You have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon!” ¹⁶But this is what the Lord says concerning the king sitting on David’s throne^h and concerning all the people living in this city—that is, concerning your brothers who did not go with you into exile. ¹⁷This is what the Lord of Armies says: “I am about to send sword, famine, and plague against them,ⁱ and I will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad. ¹⁸I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse and a desolation, an object of scorn and a disgrace among all the nations^j where I have banished them.^{k 19}I will do this because they have not listened to my words”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the words that I sent to them with my servants the prophets time and time again.^Bl And you too have not listened.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

²⁰Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.^{m 21}This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, the ones prophesying a lie to you in my name:ⁿ “I am about to hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes. ²²Based on what happens to them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will create a curse^o that says, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’^{p 23}because they have committed an outrage^q in Israel by committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken in my name a lie, which I did not command them. I am he who knows, and I am a witness.” This is the Lord’s declaration.