Jeremiah 29:24–32

The Letter of Shemaiah

^24–25The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, gave me a message for Shemaiah of Nehelam, who had sent a letter in his own name to all the people of Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to all the other priests. In this letter, Shemaiah wrote to Zephaniah:

²⁶“The Lord made you a priest in place of Jehoiada, and you are now the chief officer^m in the Temple. It is your duty to see that every madman who pretends to be a prophet is placed in chains with an iron collar round his neck. ²⁷Why haven’t you done this to Jeremiah of Anathoth, who has been speaking as a prophet to the people? ²⁸He must be stopped because he told the people in Babylonia that they would be prisoners there a long time and should build houses, settle down, plant gardens, and eat what they grow.”

²⁹Zephaniah read the letter to me, ³⁰and then the Lord told me ^31–32to send to all the prisoners in Babylon this message about Shemaiah: “I, the Lord, will punish Shemaiah and all his descendants. I did not send him, but he spoke to you as if he were a prophet, and he made you believe lies. He will have no descendants among you. He will not live to see the good things that I am going to do for my people, because he told them to rebel against me. I, the Lord, have spoken.”