Jeremiah 29–31

Chapter 29

A Letter to the Exiles

Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. ²This was after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the court officials, the other officials of Judah, and all the craftsmen and artisans had been deported from Jerusalem. ³He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah’s ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah’s letter said:

⁴This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: ⁵“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. ⁶Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! ⁷And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

⁸This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, ⁹because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord.

¹⁰This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

¹⁵You claim that the Lord has raised up prophets for you in Babylon. ¹⁶But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem—your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon. ¹⁷This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, too rotten to eat. ¹⁸Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery. ¹⁹For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent. And you who are in exile have not listened either,” says the Lord.

²⁰Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord, all you captives there in Babylon. ²¹This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about your prophets—Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah—who are telling you lies in my name: “I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar for execution before your eyes. ²²Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’ ²³For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name, saying things I did not command. I am a witness to this. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

A Message for Shemaiah

²⁴The Lord sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon: ²⁵“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,

²⁶“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. ²⁷So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you? ²⁸Jeremiah 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.’ ”

²⁹But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah’s letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him. ³⁰Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: ³¹“Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing his lies, ³²I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for he has incited you to rebel against me. I, the Lord, have spoken!’ ”

Chapter 30

Promises of Deliverance

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, ²“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah. ³For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it again. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

⁴This is the message the Lord gave concerning Israel and Judah. ⁵This is what the Lord says:

“I hear cries of fear;

there is terror and no peace.

⁶Now let me ask you a question:

Do men give birth to babies?

Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced,

hands pressed against their sides

like a woman in labor?

⁷In all history there has never been such a time of terror.

It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel.

Yet in the end they will be saved!

⁸For in that day,”

says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

“I will break the yoke from their necks

and snap their chains.

Foreigners will no longer be their masters.

⁹For my people will serve the Lord their God

and their king descended from David—

the king I will raise up for them.

¹⁰“So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant;

do not be dismayed, Israel,”

says the Lord.

“For I will bring you home again from distant lands,

and your children will return from their exile.

Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet,

and no one will terrorize them.

¹¹For I am with you and will save you,”

says the Lord.

“I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you,

but I will not completely destroy you.

I will discipline you, but with justice;

I cannot let you go unpunished.”

¹²This is what the Lord says:

“Your injury is incurable—

a terrible wound.

¹³There is no one to help you

or to bind up your injury.

No medicine can heal you.

¹⁴All your lovers—your allies—have left you

and do not care about you anymore.

I have wounded you cruelly,

as though I were your enemy.

For your sins are many,

and your guilt is great.

¹⁵Why do you protest your punishment—

this wound that has no cure?

I have had to punish you

because your sins are many

and your guilt is great.

¹⁶“But all who devour you will be devoured,

and all your enemies will be sent into exile.

All who plunder you will be plundered,

and all who attack you will be attacked.

¹⁷I will give you back your health

and heal your wounds,” says the Lord.

“For you are called an outcast—

‘Jerusalem for whom no one cares.’ ”

¹⁸This is what the Lord says:

“When I bring Israel home again from captivity

and restore their fortunes,

Jerusalem will be rebuilt on its ruins,

and the palace reconstructed as before.

¹⁹There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving,

and I will multiply my people, not diminish them;

I will honor them, not despise them.

²⁰Their children will prosper as they did long ago.

I will establish them as a nation before me,

and I will punish anyone who hurts them.

²¹They will have their own ruler again,

and he will come from their own people.

I will invite him to approach me,” says the Lord,

“for who would dare to come unless invited?

²²You will be my people,

and I will be your God.”

²³Look! The Lord’s anger bursts out like a storm,

a driving wind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.

²⁴The fierce anger of the Lord will not diminish

until it has finished all he has planned.

In the days to come

you will understand all this.

Chapter 31

Hope for Restoration

“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people. ²This is what the Lord says:

“Those who survive the coming destruction

will find blessings even in the barren land,

for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”

³Long ago the Lord said to Israel:

“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.

With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.

⁴I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel.

You will again be happy

and dance merrily with your tambourines.

⁵Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria

and eat from your own gardens there.

⁶The day will come when watchmen will shout

from the hill country of Ephraim,

‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem

to worship the Lord our God.’ ”

⁷Now this is what the Lord says:

“Sing with joy for Israel.

Shout for the greatest of nations!

Shout out with praise and joy:

‘Save your people, O Lord,

the remnant of Israel!’

⁸For I will bring them from the north

and from the distant corners of the earth.

I will not forget the blind and lame,

the expectant mothers and women in labor.

A great company will return!

⁹Tears of joy will stream down their faces,

and I will lead them home with great care.

They will walk beside quiet streams

and on smooth paths where they will not stumble.

For I am Israel’s father,

and Ephraim is my oldest child.

¹⁰“Listen to this message from the Lord,

you nations of the world;

proclaim it in distant coastlands:

The Lord, who scattered his people,

will gather them and watch over them

as a shepherd does his flock.

¹¹For the Lord has redeemed Israel

from those too strong for them.

¹²They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem.

They will be radiant…