Jeremiah 29–31

A Letter to the Captives in Babylon

29This is the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the elders who were among the captives, the priests, and the prophets. He sent it to all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had taken as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²(This letter was sent after all these people were taken away: Jehoiachin the king and the queen mother; the officers and leaders of Judah and Jerusalem; and the craftsmen and metalworkers from Jerusalem.) ³Zedekiah king of Judah sent Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. So Jeremiah gave them this letter to carry to Babylon:

⁴This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says to all those people I sent away from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon: ⁵“Build houses and settle in the land. Plant gardens and eat the food they grow. ⁶Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons, and let your daughters be married so they also may have sons and daughters. Have many children in Babylon; don’t become fewer in number. ⁷Also do good things for the city where I sent you as captives. Pray to the Lord for the city where you are living, because if good things happen in the city, good things will happen to you also.” ⁸The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let the prophets among you and the people who do magic fool you. Don’t listen to their dreams. ⁹They are prophesying lies to you, saying that their message is from me. But I did not send them,” says the Lord.

¹⁰This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for seventy years. After that time I will come to you, and I will keep my promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. ¹¹I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. ¹²Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! ¹⁴I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place, but I will gather you from all the nations, from the places I have sent you as captives,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back to this place.”

¹⁵You might say, “The Lord has given us prophets here in Babylon.”

¹⁶But the Lord says this about the king who is sitting on David’s throne now and all the other people still in Jerusalem, your relatives who did not go as captives to Babylon with you. ¹⁷The Lord All-Powerful says: “I will soon send war, hunger, and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat. ¹⁸I will chase them with war, hunger, and terrible diseases. I will make them hated by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will curse them and be shocked and will use them as a shameful example wherever I make them go. ¹⁹This is because they have not listened to my message,” says the Lord. “I sent my message to them again and again through my servants, the prophets, but they did not listen,” says the Lord.

²⁰You captives, whom I forced to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon, listen to the message from the Lord. ²¹The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says this about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah: “These two men have been prophesying lies to you, saying that their message is from me. But soon I will hand over those two prophets to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them in front of you. ²²Because of them, all the captives from Judah in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ ²³They have done evil things among the people of Israel. They are guilty of adultery with their neighbors’ wives. They have also spoken lies and said those lies were a message from me. I did not tell them to do that. I know what they have done; I am a witness to it,” says the Lord.

²⁴Also give a message to Shemaiah from the Nehelamite family. ²⁵The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “Shemaiah, you sent letters in your name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. ²⁶You said to Zephaniah, ‘The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Temple of the Lord. You should arrest any madman who acts like a prophet. Lock his hands and feet between wooden blocks, and put iron rings around his neck. ²⁷Now Jeremiah from Anathoth is acting like a prophet. So why haven’t you arrested him? ²⁸Jeremiah has sent this message to us in Babylon: You will be there for a long time, so build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they grow.’ ”

²⁹Zephaniah the priest read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah: ³¹“Send this message to all the captives in Babylon: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has prophesied to you, but I did not send him. He has made you believe a lie. ³²So the Lord says, I will soon punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family. He will not see the good things I will do for my people, says the Lord. None of his family will be left alive among the people, because he has taught the people to turn against me.’ ”

Promises of Hope

30These are the words that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. ²The Lord, the God of Israel, said: “Jeremiah, write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. ³The days will come when I will bring Israel and Judah back from captivity,” says the Lord. “I will return them to the land I gave their ancestors, and they will own it!” says the Lord.

⁴The Lord spoke this message about the people of Israel and Judah: ⁵This is what the Lord said:

“We hear people crying from fear.

They are afraid; there is no peace.

⁶Ask this question, and consider it:

A man cannot have a baby.

So why do I see every strong man

holding his stomach in pain like a woman having a baby?

Why is everyone’s face turning white like a dead man’s face?

⁷This will be a terrible day!

There will never be another time like this.

This is a time of great trouble for the people of Jacob,

but they will be saved from it.”

⁸The Lord All-Powerful says, “At that time

I will break the yoke from their necks

and tear off the ropes that hold them.

Foreign people will never again make my people slaves.

⁹They will serve the Lord their God

and David their king,

whom I will send to them.

¹⁰“So people of Jacob, my servants, don’t be afraid.

Israel, don’t be frightened,” says the Lord.

“I will soon save you from that faraway place where you are captives.

I will save your family from that land.

The people of Jacob will be safe and have peace again;

there will be no enemy to frighten them.

¹¹I am with you and will save you,”

says the Lord.

“I will completely destroy all those nations

where I scattered you,

but I will not completely destroy you.

I will punish you fairly,

but I will still punish you.”

¹²This is what the Lord said:

“You people have a wound that cannot be cured;

your injury will not heal.

¹³There is no one to argue your case

and no cure for your sores.

So you will not be healed.

¹⁴All those nations who were your friends have forgotten you.

They don’t care about you.

I have hurt you as an enemy would.

I punished you very hard,

because your guilt was so great

and your sins were so many.

¹⁵Why are you crying out about your injury?

There is no cure for your pain.

I did these things to you because of your great guilt,

because of your many sins.

¹⁶But all those nations that destroyed you will now be destroyed.

All your enemies will become captives in other lands.

Those who stole from you will have their own things stolen.

Those who took things from you in war will have their own things taken.

¹⁷I will bring back your health

and heal your injuries,” says the Lord,

“because other people forced you away.

They said about you, ‘No one cares about Jerusalem!’ ”

¹⁸This is what the Lord said:

“I will soon make the tents of Jacob’s people as they used to be,

and I will have pity on Israel’s houses.

The city will be rebuilt on its hill of ruins,

and the king’s palace will stand in its proper place.

¹⁹People in those places will sing songs of praise.

There will be the sound of laughter.

I will give them many children

so their number will not be small.

I will bring honor to them

so no one will look down on them.

²⁰Their descendants will be as they were in the old days.

I will set them up as a strong people before me,

and I will punish the nations who have hurt them.

²¹One of their own people will lead them;

their ruler will come from among them.

He will come near to me when I invite him.

Who would dare to come to me uninvited?” says the Lord.

²²“So you will be my people,

and I will be your God.”

²³Look! It is a storm from the Lord!

He is angry and has gone out to punish the people.

Punishment will come like a storm

crashing down on the evil people.

²⁴The Lord will stay angry

until he finishes punishing the people.

He will stay angry

until he finishes the punishment he planned.

When that day comes,

you will understand this.

The New Israel

31The Lord says, “At that time I will be God of all Israel’s family groups, and they will be my people.”

²This is what the Lord says:

“The people who were not killed by the enemy’s sword

found help in the desert.

I came to give rest to Israel.”

³And from far away the Lord appeared to his people and said,

“I love you people

with a love that will last forever.

That is why I have continued

showing you kindness.

⁴People of Israel, I will build you up again,

and you will be rebuilt.

You will pick up your tambourines again

and dance with those who are joyful.

⁵You will plant vineyards again

on the hills around Samaria.

The farmers will plant them

and enjoy their fruit.

⁶There will be a time when watchmen in the mountains of Ephraim shout this message:

‘Come, let’s go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord our God!’ ”…