Jeremiah 29:1–23

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.’”