Jeremiah — Chapter 29

¹Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,

²(after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, [and] the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem,)

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

⁴Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵Build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

⁶Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply you there, and don`t be diminished.

⁷Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in the peace of it shall you have peace.

⁸For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Don`t let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen you to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them, says Yahweh.

¹⁰For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.

¹²You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

¹³You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will be found of you, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places wither I have driven you, says Yahweh; and I will bring you again to the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

¹⁵Because you have said, Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon;

¹⁶thus 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 haven`t gone forth with you into captivity;

¹⁷thus says Yahweh of Hosts; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can`t be eaten, they are so bad.

¹⁸I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;

¹⁹because they have not listened to my words, says Yahweh, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says Yahweh.

²⁰Hear you therefore the word of Yahweh, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes;

²²and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;

²³because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors` wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn`t command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness, says Yahweh.

²⁴Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,

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

²⁶Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Yahweh, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

²⁷Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you,

²⁸because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, [The captivity] is long: build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them?

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

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

³¹Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn`t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;

³²therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to my people, says Yahweh, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.