Jeremiah 29

1These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

2after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the metalworkers had gone out from Jerusalem—

3by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon, saying:

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

5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.

6Take wives and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to men, so that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

7Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to Yahweh on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare.

8For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you are causing to be dreamed.

9For they are prophesying falsely to you in my name; I did not send them, declares Yahweh.

10For this is what Yahweh says: When seventy years for Babylon are completed, I will attend to you and fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

11For I know the plans that I have for you, declares Yahweh, plans for peace and not for harm, to give you a future and a hope.

12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

13You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

14And I will let myself be found by you, declares Yahweh, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, declares Yahweh, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

15Because you have said, “Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,”

16For thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city—your brothers who did not go out with you into exile—

17Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold, I am sending against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten because of their badness.

18And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, a desolation, an object of hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.

19because they did not listen to my words, declares Yahweh, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, and you did not listen, declares Yahweh.

20But you, all the exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of Yahweh.

21Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I am giving them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.

22And from them a curse will be taken up by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.”

23because they have committed an outrageous act in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken in my name a lie that I did not command them. And I am the one who knows and is a witness, declares Yahweh.

24And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall say, saying,

25Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

26Yahweh has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be overseers in the house of Yahweh over every man who is mad and acts as a prophet, and you should put him into the stocks and the neck iron.

27And now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah the Anathothite, who is prophesying to you?

28For this reason he 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.’

29Then Zephaniah the priest read this scroll in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.

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

31Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,’

32Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man dwelling among this people, nor will he see the good that I am doing for my people, declares Yahweh, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.