Jeremiah 29

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
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.	1 Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremias, the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the ancients that were carried into captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem 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.	2 After that Jechonias the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Juda, and of Jerusalem, and the craftsman, and the engravers were departed out of Jerusalem :
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:	3 By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of Helcias, whom Sedecias king of Juda sent to Babylon to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, saying:
4 'Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this to al the exiles deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:	4 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build houses, settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce;	5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, and eat the fruit of them.
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.	6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number.
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.	7 And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall be your peace.
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,	8 For thus saith the Lord of hoses the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you: and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:
9 since they prophesy lies to you in my name. I have not sent them, Yahweh declares.	9 For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
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.	10 For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favour, to bring you again 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.	11 For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience.
12 When you cal to me and come and pray to me, I shal listen to you.	12 And you shall call upon me, and you shall go: and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you.
13 When you search for me, you will find me; when you search wholeheartedly for me,	13 You shall seek me, and shall And me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.
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).	14 And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord: and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive.
15 'Since you say: Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon-	15 Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets 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:	16 For thus saith the Lord to the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and to all the people that dwell in this city, to your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity.
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.	17 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.
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,	18 And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and pith the pestilence: and I will give them up unto affliction to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them out:
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.	19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord: which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising by night, and sending: and you have not heard, saith the Lord.
20 But al you exiles, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to Yahweh's word!	20 Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.
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.	21 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to Achab the son of Colias, and to Sedecias the son of Maasias, who prophesy unto you in my name falsely: Behold I will deliver them up into the hands of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: and he shall kill them before your 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,	22 And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Juda, that are in Babylon, saying: The Lord make thee like Sedecias, and like Achab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire :
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.'	23 Because they have acted folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I commanded them not: I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord.
24 'And to Shemaiah of Nehelam you wil speak as fol ows:	24 And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say:
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:	25 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because thou hast sent letters in thy name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all 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,	26 The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Joiada the priest, that thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over every man that raveth and prophesieth, to put him in the stocks, and into prison.
27 why then have you not disciplined Jeremiah of Anathoth, now posing as a prophet to you?	27 And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite, who prophesieth 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.'. . .	28 For he hath also sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long time: build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant gardens, and eat the fruits of them.
29 (Now, after the priest Zephaniah had read this letter to the prophet Jeremiah),	29 So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing of Jeremias the prophet.
30 the word of Yahweh came then to Jeremiah as fol ows,	30 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
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	31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying: Thus saith the Lord to Semeias the Nehelamite: Because Semeias hath prophesied to you, and I sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie :
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)." '	32 Therefore thus saith the Lord: behold I will visit upon Semeias the Nehelamite, and upon his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in the midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, saith the Lord: because he hath spoken treason against the Lord.