Jeremiah 29

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

² after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had left Jerusalem—

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

⁴ "This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:"

⁵ "Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce."

⁶ "Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease."

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

⁸ "For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Do not let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that you are dreaming."

⁹ "For they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I did not send them, declares the LORD."

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

¹¹ "For I know the plans I am planning for you, declares the LORD—plans for welfare and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

¹² "You will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

¹³ "You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart."

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

¹⁵ "Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon'—"

¹⁶ this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on the throne of David and about all the people who live in this city—your relatives who did not go out with you into exile—

¹⁷ this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Look! I am sending against them the sword, famine, and plague, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten."

¹⁸ "I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague, and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, a hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations where I have driven them,"

¹⁹ "because they did not listen to my words, declares the LORD, which I sent to them through my servants the prophets, sending them again and again—but you would not listen, declares the LORD."

²⁰ "But you—hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon."

²¹ This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: "Look! I am about to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes."

²² And from them a curse will be taken up by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon: "May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire"—

²³ because they did disgraceful things in Israel: they committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and spoke words in my name falsely, which I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.

²⁴ And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall say:

²⁵ "This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Because you sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,"

²⁶ "'The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be overseers in the house of the LORD over every madman who acts as a prophet, to put him in the stocks and the neck-iron."

²⁷ "'So why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who acts as a prophet to you?"

²⁸ "'For he has sent word to us in Babylon saying: It will be a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce.'"

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

³⁰ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

³¹ "Send word to all the exiles: 'This is what the LORD says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you when I did not send him, and he made you trust in a lie,"

³² therefore this is what the LORD says: Look! I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will have no one living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do for my people, declares the LORD, because he spoke rebellion against the LORD."