^29:24The Lord told Jeremiah, “Tell⁴⁷ Shemaiah the Nehelamite⁴⁸^29:25that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all⁴⁹ has a message for him.⁵⁰ Tell him,⁵¹ ‘On your own initiative⁵² you sent a letter⁵³ to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah⁵⁴ and to all the other priests and to all the people in Jerusalem.⁵⁵ In your letter you said to Zephaniah,⁵⁶^29:26“The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada.⁵⁷ He has put you in charge in the Lord’s temple of controlling⁵⁸ any lunatic⁵⁹ who pretends to be a prophet.⁶⁰ And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks⁶¹ with an iron collar around his neck.⁶²^29:27You should have reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth who is pretending to be a prophet among you!⁶³^29:28For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us,⁶⁴ “You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.” ’ ”⁶⁵

^29:29Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah.⁶⁶

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Footnotes

47 The words “The Lord told Jeremiah” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation here to indicate the shift in topic and the shift in addressee (the imperative “tell” is second singular). The introduction supplied in the translation here matches that in v. 30 where the words are in the text.
48 It is unclear whether this is a family name or a place name. The word occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
49 Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See study notes on and for the explanation of this title.
50 Heb “Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ‘Thus says Yahweh of armies the God of Israel.…” The indirect quotation is used in the translation to avoid the complexity of embedding a quotation within a quotation.
51 Jer 29:24–32 are concerned with Jeremiah’s interaction with a false prophet named Shemaiah. The narrative in this section is not in strict chronological order and is somewhat elliptical. It begins with a report of a message that Jeremiah appears to have delivered directly to Shemaiah and refers to a letter that Shemaiah sent to the priest Zephaniah encouraging him to reprimand Jeremiah for what Shemaiah considered treasonous words in his letter to the exiles (vv. 24–28; compare v. 28 with v. 5). However, Jeremiah is in Jerusalem and Shemaiah is in Babylon. The address must then be part of a second letter Jeremiah sent to Babylon. Following this the narrative refers to Zephaniah reading Shemaiah’s letter to Jeremiah and Jeremiah sending a further letter to the captives in Babylon (vv. 29–32). This is probably not a third letter but part of the same letter in which Jeremiah reprimands Shemaiah for sending his letter to Zephaniah (vv. 25–28; the same letter referred to in v. 29). The order of events thus is: Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives counseling them to settle down in Babylon (vv. 1–23). Shemaiah sent a letter to Zephaniah asking him to reprimand Jeremiah (vv. 26–28). After Zephaniah read that letter to Jeremiah (v. 29), Jeremiah wrote a further letter to Babylon reprimanding him (vv. 25–28, 31) and pronouncing judgment on him (v. 32). The elliptical nature of the narrative is reflected in the fact that vv. 25–27 are part of a long causal sentence which sets forth an accusation but has no corresponding main clause or announcement of judgment. This kind of construction involves a rhetorical figure (called aposiopesis) where what is begun is not finished for various rhetorical reasons. Here the sentence that is broken off is part of an announcement of judgment which is not picked up until v. 32 after a further (though related) accusation (v. 31b).
52 Heb “In your [own] name.” See the study note on for the significance of this idiom.
53 Heb “letters.” Though §124.b, n. 1 denies it, this is probably a case of the plural of extension. For a similar usage see Isa 37:14 where the plural “letters” is referred to later as an “it.” Even if there were other “letters,” the focus is on the letter to Zephaniah.
54 According to Jer 52:24 and 2 Kgs 25:18 Zephaniah son of Maaseiah was second in command to the high priest. He was the high ranking priest who was sent along with a civic official to inquire of the Lord’s will from Jeremiah by Zedekiah on two separate occasions (Jer 21:1; 37:3).
55 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
56 The words “In your letter you said to Zephaniah” are not in the text: Heb “you sent a letter to …, saying.” The sentence has been broken up to conform better to contemporary English style and these words have been supplied in the translation to make the transition to the address to Zephaniah in vv. 26–28.
57 Heb “in place of Jehoiada the priest.” The word “the priest” is unnecessary to the English sentence.
58 Heb “The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be overseer in the house of the Lord for/over.” The translation is based on a reading presupposed by several of the versions. The Hebrew text reads “The Lord has … to be overseers [in] the house of the Lord for/over.” The reading here follows that of the Greek, , and Latin versions in reading פָּקִיד בְּבֵית (paqid bévet) in place of פְּקִדִים בֵּית (péqidim bet). There has been a confusion of the ם (mem) and בּ (bet) and a transposition of the י (yod) and ד (dalet).
59 The Hebrew term translated lunatic applies to anyone who exhibits irrational behavior. It was used for example of David who drooled and scratched on the city gate to convince Achish not to arrest him as a politically dangerous threat (1 Sam 21:14). It was often used contemptuously of the prophets by those who wanted to play down the significance of their words (2 Kgs 9:11; Hos 9:7 and here).
60 The verb here is a good example of what §26.2f calls the estimative-declarative reflexive where a person presents himself in a certain light. For examples of this usage see 2 Sam 13:5; Prov 13:7.
61 See the translator’s note on for this word which only occurs here and in 20:2–3.
62 This word only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible. All the lexicons are agreed as seeing it referring to a collar placed around the neck. The basis for this definition are the cognate languages (see, e.g., צִינֹק for the most complete discussion).
63 Heb “So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah …?” The rhetorical question functions as an emphatic assertion made explicit in the translation.
64 Heb “For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying.…” The quote, however, is part of the earlier letter.
65 See v. 5.
66 Heb “in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the house of the Lord over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and neck irons. Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.” ’ ”

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

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, ‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the Lord; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’ ”

Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you are to say, “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You in your own name have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying, ‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, responsible for every madman who acts like a prophet. You must confine him in the stocks and an iron collar. So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who has been acting like a prophet among you? For he has sent word to us in Babylon, claiming, “The exile will be long. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce.” ’ ”

The priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah.

NLTNew Living Translation

The Lord sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon: “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem. You wrote to Zephaniah,

“The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the house of the Lord. You are responsible to put into stocks and neck irons any crazy man who claims to be a prophet. So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you? Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon, predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said, ‘Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.’ ”

But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah’s letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall say, saying, “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Because you yourself sent a letter in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, “Yahweh made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there are overseers in the house of Yahweh over any mad man who exhibits the behavior of a prophet, and you must put him into the stocks and into the neck iron, and so then why have you not rebuked Jeremiah the Anathothite who exhibits the behavior of a prophet for you? Because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘It will be a long time, build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ” ’ ” And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.

KJV 1900King James Version

Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, The Lord hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks. Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you? For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

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