Jeremiah 29–31

CHAPTER 29

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

¹Now these are the words of the ^aletter 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 away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²(This was after King ^aJeconiah and the ^bqueen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had gone out from Jerusalem.)

³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of ^aHilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

⁴“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have ^asent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

⁵‘^aBuild houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

⁶‘Take ^awives and ¹become 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‘^aSeek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^bpray to Yahweh on its behalf; for in its peace you will have peace.’

⁸“For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your ^aprophets who are in your midst and your diviners ^bdeceive you, and do not listen to ^cyour dreams which you dream.

⁹‘For they ^aprophesy a lie to you in My name; ^bI have not sent them,’ declares Yahweh.

¹⁰“For thus says Yahweh, ‘When ^aseventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will ¹visit you and establish My ^bgood word to you, to return you to this place.

¹¹‘For I know the ^aplans that I ¹have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for ^bpeace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a ^chope.

¹²‘Then you will ^acall upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will ^blisten to you.

¹³‘You will ^aseek Me and find Me when you ^bsearch for Me with all your heart.

¹⁴‘I will be ^afound by you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will ^1breturn your ²fortunes and will ^cgather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have banished you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will ^dcause you to return to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

¹⁵“Because you have said, ‘Yahweh has raised up ^aprophets for us in Babylon’—

¹⁶for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did ^anot go with you into exile—

¹⁷thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the ^asword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^bsplit-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 ^agive them over to be a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a ^bcurse and an object of horror and of ^chissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have banished them,

¹⁹because they have ^anot listened to My words,’ declares Yahweh, ‘which I sent to them by ^bMy slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending; but you did not listen,’ declares Yahweh.

²⁰“You, therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles, whom I have ^asent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are ^aprophesying to you falsely in My name, ‘Behold, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.

²²‘And because of them a ^acurse will be ¹used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon ^broasted in the fire

²³because they have ^aacted with wicked foolishness in Israel and ^bhave committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have ^cspoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who ^dknows and am a witness,” declares Yahweh.’”

²⁴And to ^aShemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,

²⁵“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent ^aletters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem and to ^bZephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶“Yahweh has given you to be a priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the ^1aoverseer in the house of Yahweh over every ^bmadman who ^cprophesies, to ^dput him in the stocks and in the iron collar,

²⁷so now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of ^aAnathoth who prophesies to you?

²⁸“For he has ^asent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be ^blong; ^cbuild houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”

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

³⁰Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹“Send to ^aall the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh concerning ^bShemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has ^cprophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has ^dmade you trust in a lie,”

³²therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am about to ^apunish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed; he will ^bnot have anyone living among this people, ^cand he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares Yahweh, “because he has ^dspoken rebellion against Yahweh.” ’ ”

CHAPTER 30

Yahweh Will Return the Fortunes of His People

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

²“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^aWrite all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.

³‘For behold, ^adays are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I will ^1breturn the ²fortunes of My people ^cIsrael and Judah.’ Yahweh says, ‘I will also ^dcause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’”

⁴Now these are the words which Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah:

⁵“For thus says Yahweh,

‘We have heard a sound of ^atrembling,

Of dread, and there is no peace.

⁶‘Ask now, and see

If a male can give birth.

Why do I see every man

With his hands on his loins, ^aas a woman in childbirth?

And why have all faces turned pale?

⁷‘Alas! For that ^aday is great,

There is ^bnone like it;

And it is the time of Jacob’s ^cdistress,

But he will be ^dsaved from it.

⁸‘And it will be in that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘that I will ^abreak his yoke from off your neck and will tear off your ^bbonds; and strangers will no longer ^cmake ¹them their slaves.

⁹‘But they shall be a slave to Yahweh their God and ^aDavid their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁰‘^aFear not, O Jacob My ¹servant,’ declares Yahweh,

‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;

For behold, I will save you ^bfrom afar

And your seed from the land of their captivity.

And Jacob will return and will be ^cquiet and at ease,

And ^dno one will make him tremble.

¹¹‘For ^aI am with you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to save you;

For I will ^bmake a complete destruction of all the nations where I have scattered you,

Only I will ^cnot make a complete destruction of you.

But I will ^dchasten you justly

And will by no means leave you unpunished.’

¹²“For thus says Yahweh,

‘Your injury is incurable,

And your ^awound is desperately sick.

¹³‘There is no one to plead your cause;

No healing for your sore,

^aNo recovery for you.

¹⁴‘All your ^alovers have forgotten you;

They do not seek you;

For I have ^1bwounded you with the wound of an enemy,

With the ^cpunishment of a ^dcruel one,

Because your ^einiquity is numerous

And your ^fsins are mighty.

¹⁵‘Why do you cry out over your injury?

Your pain is incurable.

Because your iniquity is numerous

And your sins are mighty,

I have done these things to you.

¹⁶‘Therefore all who ^adevour you will be devoured;

And all your adversaries, every one of them, ^bwill go into captivity;

And those who take you as spoil will be spoil,

And all who plunder you I will give as plunder.

¹⁷‘For I will ¹restore you to ^2ahealth,

And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares Yahweh,

‘Because they have called you a ^bbanished one, saying:

“It is Zion; no one is seeking her.” ’

¹⁸“Thus says Yahweh,

‘Behold, I will ^1areturn the ²fortunes of the tents of Jacob

And ^bhave compassion on his dwelling places;

And the ^ccity will be rebuilt on its ruin,

And the ^dpalace will sit on its just place.

¹⁹‘From them will come forth ^athanksgiving

And the voice of those who ^1bcelebrate;

And I will ^cmultiply them, and they will not decrease;

I will also ^dhonor them, and they will not be insignificant.

²⁰‘¹Their children also will be as formerly,

And ²their congregation shall be ^aestablished before Me;

And I will punish all ³their oppressors.

²¹‘And ¹their ^amighty one shall be one of them,

And ²their ruler shall come forth from ³their midst;

And I will ^bbring Him near, and He shall approach Me;

For who would dare to give his heart as security to ^capproach Me?’ declares Yahweh.

²²‘You shall be ^aMy people,

And I will be your God.’”

²³Behold, the ^astorm of Yahweh!

Wrath has gone forth,

A ¹sweeping storm;

It will burst on the head of the wicked.

²⁴The ^aburning anger of Yahweh will not turn back

Until He has done and until He has established

The intent of His heart;

In the ^blast days you will understand this.

CHAPTER 31

Israel’s Mourning Turned to Joy

¹“At that time,” declares Yahweh, “I will be the ^aGod of all the ^bfamilies of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

²Thus says Yahweh,

“The people who survived the sword

^aFound grace in the wilderness—

Israel, when it went to ^bfind its relief.”

³Yahweh appeared to ¹him from afar, saying,

“I have ^aloved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore I have drawn you with ^blovingkindness.

⁴“^aAgain I will build you, and you will be rebuilt,

O virgin of Israel!

Again you will ¹take up your ^btambourines

And go forth to the dances of those ^ccelebrating.

⁵“Again you will ^aplant vineyards

On the ¹hills of Samaria;

The planters will plant

And will ²enjoy them.

⁶“For there will be a day when watchmen

On the hills of Ephraim call out,

‘Arise, and ^alet us go up to Zion,

To Yahweh our God.’”

⁷For thus says Yahweh,

“^aSing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

And shout among the ^bhead…