Jeremiah 29

¹ This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to those who were left of theelders in exile, to the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported fromJerusalem to Babylon.

² This was after King Jeconiah had left Jerusalem with the queen mother, the eunuchs, the chief men ofJudah and Jerusalem, and the blacksmiths and metalworkers.

³ The letter was entrusted to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiahking of Judah had sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter said:

⁴ 'Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this to al the exiles deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ Build houses, settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce;

⁶ marry and have sons and daughters; choose wives for your sons, find husbands for your daughters sothat these can bear sons and daughters in their turn; you must increase there and not decrease.

⁷ Work for the good of the city to which I have exiled you; pray to Yahweh on its behalf, since on itswelfare yours depends.

⁸ For Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: Do not be deceived by the prophets who are withyou or by your diviners; do not listen to the dreams you have,

⁹ since they prophesy lies to you in my name. I have not sent them, Yahweh declares.

¹⁰ For Yahweh says this: When the seventy years granted to Babylon are over, I shal intervene on yourbehalf and fulfil my favourable promise to you by bringing you back to this place.

¹¹ Yes, I know what plans I have in mind for you, Yahweh declares, plans for peace, not for disaster, togive you a future and a hope.

¹² When you cal to me and come and pray to me, I shal listen to you.

¹³ When you search for me, you will find me; when you search wholeheartedly for me,

¹⁴ I shal let you find me (Yahweh declares. I shal restore your fortunes and gather you in from al thenations and wherever I have driven you, Yahweh declares. I shal bring you back to the place from which I exiledyou).

¹⁵ 'Since you say: Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon-

¹⁶ this is what Yahweh says about the king now occupying the throne of David and all the people living inthis city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile:

¹⁷ Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I am now going to send them sword, famine and plague; I shal makethem like rotten figs, so bad as to be uneatable.

¹⁸ I shal pursue them with sword, famine and plague. I shall make them an object of terror to al thekingdoms of the earth, a curse, a thing of horror, scorn and derision to al the nations where I have driven them,

¹⁹ because they have refused to listen to my words, Yahweh declares, although I have persistently sentthem al my servants the prophets; but they would not listen, Yahweh declares.

²⁰ But al you exiles, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to Yahweh's word!

²¹ 'This is what Yahweh Sabaoth, God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah son ofMaaseiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: I shal hand them over now to Nebuchadnezzar king ofBabylon who wil put them to death before your very eyes.

²² This curse, based on their fate, wil be used by al the exiles of Judah in Babylon: May Yahweh treatyou like Zedekiah and Ahab, roasted alive by the king of Babylon,

²³ because they have done a scandalous thing in Israel, committing adultery with their neighbour's wivesand speaking lying words in my name without orders from me. I know al the same and am witness to it, Yahwehdeclares.'

²⁴ 'And to Shemaiah of Nehelam you wil speak as fol ows:

²⁵ Yahweh Sabaoth, God of Israel, says this: Since you, on your own initiative, have sent a letter to allthe people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah (and to al the priests), saying:

²⁶ Yahweh has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to keep order in the Temple ofYahweh, to put any crazy fel ow posing as a prophet in the stocks and col ar,

²⁷ why then have you not disciplined Jeremiah of Anathoth, now posing as a prophet to you?

²⁸ Why, he has even sent us a message in Babylon, saying: It wil be a long time. Build houses, settledown; plant gardens and eat what they produce.'. . .

²⁹ (Now, after the priest Zephaniah had read this letter to the prophet Jeremiah),

³⁰ the word of Yahweh came then to Jeremiah as fol ows,

³¹ 'Send this message to al the exiles, "This is what Yahweh says about Shemaiah of Nehelam: SinceShemaiah has prophesied to you without my sending him, and since he has caused you to rely on what is false

³² for that reason, Yahweh declares, I shal punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants; no malemember of his family wil survive among this people to see the happiness that I wil bestow on my people(Yahweh declares, since he has preached rebel ion against Yahweh)." '