Jeremiah 29

29 ¹ These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and metalworkers had left Jerusalem. ³ He sent it with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:

⁴ This is what the Father of heaven's armies, our Father of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not dwindle away. ⁷ Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to me on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ⁸ For this is what the Father of heaven's armies, our Father of Israel, says: Do not let your prophets and diviners among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams they keep dreaming. ⁹ They are prophesying lies to you in my name; I did not send them, declares your Father. ¹⁰ For this is what your Father says: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill for you my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares your Father — plans for peace and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then 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 let you find me, declares your Father, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares your Father, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

¹⁵ Because you have said, "Our Father has raised up prophets for us in Babylon" ¹⁶ —this is what your Father says concerning the king who sits on David's throne and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go out with you into exile ¹⁷ —this is what the Father of heaven's armies says: I am about to send the sword, famine, and plague against them, and I will make them like rotten figs, too spoiled to be eaten. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague, and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth — a curse, a desolation, an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they did not listen to my words, declares your Father — words I sent to them again and again through my servants the prophets — but you would not listen, declares your Father.

²⁰ So hear the word of your Father, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²¹ This is what the Father of heaven's armies, our Father of Israel, says concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: I am about to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes. ²² Because of them, all the exiles of Judah in Babylon will use this curse: "May our Father make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," ²³ because they have done outrageous things in Israel: they committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and spoke lies in my name that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am the witness, declares your Father.

The Father Rebukes Shemaiah

²⁴ Say this to Shemaiah the Nehelamite: ²⁵ This is what the Father of heaven's armies, our Father of Israel, says: You have 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 made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be the officer in the house of the LORD over every madman who plays the prophet, to put him in the stocks and the neck-iron." ²⁷ So why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who poses 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 live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit."

²⁹ Zephaniah the priest read this letter aloud to Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰ Then the word of our Father came to Jeremiah:

³¹ Send this message to all the exiles: This is what your Father says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, ³² therefore this is what your Father says: I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left living among this people, and he will not see the good I am going to do for my people, declares your Father, because he has preached rebellion against me.