Jeremiah 29

These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem. He sent it to the elders who were still alive among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

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

NoteThe letter is addressed to the first wave of Judean deportees, taken to Babylon in 597 BC when the city surrendered. Jerusalem itself was still standing, with a king on the throne, and would not be destroyed for another decade. "Elders" here means the heads of families and community leaders, not simply old men; "still alive" acknowledges that some had died on the march or in the years since.

2(This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had been taken away from Jerusalem.)

2(After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)

NoteJeconiah is King Jehoiachin, who reigned three months before surrendering to Nebuchadnezzar and being deported. The "queen mother" was a formal position at the Judean court, ranking above the king's wives; she is named in the royal records alongside her son. The "court officials" (KJV "eunuchs") were senior palace servants, castrated or not, the word had broadened to mean any high officer of the household. Deporting the craftsmen and metalworkers was standard imperial practice: it stripped a conquered territory of the men who could make weapons, and moved that skill to the capital.

3The letter was carried by Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah. Zedekiah king of Judah had sent these two men to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter said:

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

NoteZedekiah, Jeconiah's uncle, was installed as king by Nebuchadnezzar over what was left of Judah. He is sending an official embassy to Babylon, probably carrying tribute or a message of loyalty, and Jeremiah's letter travels with the diplomatic post, the only reliable long-distance mail there was.

4This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the people carried off into exile, the ones he caused to be taken from Jerusalem to Babylon:

4Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;

Note"LORD" printed in this way stands for the personal name of Israel's God, which the Hebrew text writes with four consonants and which readers traditionally did not pronounce aloud. "Of Hosts" means "of armies", a title picturing him at the head of massed forces.

5Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat what grows in them.

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

NoteGardens in this sense include vines and fruit trees, which take several years to come into bearing. The instruction to plant them is an instruction to settle in for a long stay, not to keep bags packed.

6Marry, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Grow in number there; do not shrink.

6Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.

7Work for the good of the city where I have sent you as exiles, and pray to the LORD for it. If things go well for that city, things will go well for you.

7And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

NoteThe word translated "peace" (Hebrew *shalom*) covers safety, prosperity and general well-being, not just the absence of fighting. Praying for the welfare of the empire that had deported them was a startling thing to ask.

8For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Do not let the prophets and fortune-tellers among you fool you. Do not listen to the dreams you get them to dream.

8For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

Note"Diviners" were specialists who claimed to read the future from omens (the flight of birds, the markings of a sacrificed animal's liver, the fall of arrows or lots. The last clause is awkward in Hebrew and can be read either as "the dreams you keep having" or "the dreams you are getting them to dream") that is, the answers people commission when they pay for the reply they want.

9They are telling you lies and saying that they speak for me. I did not send them, says the LORD.

9For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.

10This is what the LORD says: When Babylon's seventy years are finished, I will come to you. I will keep my good promise to you and bring you back to this place.

10For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

NoteSeventy years is a round figure for a lifetime, the span in which a whole generation dies out; Babylon's empire in fact lasted from 605 to 539 BC. "Visit" in older English does not mean pay a social call; it means turn one's attention to someone, for help or for punishment, here, for help.

11For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for your good and not for harm, plans to give you a future and a hope.

11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase behind "an expected end" is literally "a latter end and a hope", an outcome still ahead of you and grounds for expecting it. The "plans" or "thoughts" are addressed to the exiled community as a whole, not to any one person; the "you" is plural throughout.

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

12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

13You will look for me and you will find me, when you look for me with your whole heart.

13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

14I will let you find me, says the LORD. I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD. I will bring you back to the place I sent you away from.

14And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Note"Turn away your captivity" translates a stock Hebrew idiom, "restore the fortunes," used of reversing any ruin and not only of bringing prisoners home.

15You have said, "The LORD has given us prophets here in Babylon."

15Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;

NoteThis sentence breaks off; its thought is picked up again at verse 21, which finally names the Babylon prophets in question. Verses 16–20 are missing from the ancient Greek translation of Jeremiah, which runs about an eighth shorter than the Hebrew text throughout this book and arranges some material differently.

16But this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David's throne, about all the people still living in this city, and about your relatives who did not go into exile with you.

16Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;

NoteThe king on David's throne is Zedekiah, still ruling in Jerusalem. The point of the address is that the exiles' relatives left behind in Judah are worse off than the exiles, not better.

17This is what the LORD of Hosts says: I am sending war, hunger, and disease against them. I will make them like rotten figs, so bad that no one can eat them.

17Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

NoteWar, hunger and disease are a fixed trio in Jeremiah for what happens to a besieged city: the sword outside the walls, starvation inside, and epidemic in the crowded, unburied aftermath. The rotten figs pick up an earlier vision of Jeremiah's (chapter 24), in which two baskets of figs set before the temple stood for the exiles and for those who stayed.

18I will chase them with war, hunger, and disease. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Among all the nations where I drive them, they will be a curse, a horror, something people whistle at, and a name people insult.

18And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:

NoteTo become "a curse" means that their name is used in curse formulas, as in verse 22 below, where cursing someone is done by wishing them the fate of a known disaster. Whistling was a gesture of shock and derision at a ruined place, not of approval.

19This is because they did not listen to my words, says the LORD, which I sent to them again and again through my servants the prophets. And you exiles would not listen either, says the LORD.

19Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.

20So listen to the word of the LORD, all you exiles I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

20Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:

21This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are telling you lies and claiming that they speak for me: I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them in front of your eyes.

21Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;

NoteThis Zedekiah is a prophet among the exiles, not the king of Judah mentioned in verse 3; the name was common. Burning alive is attested as a Babylonian penalty (the same punishment appears in the book of Daniel), and executing them in front of the deportees made the deaths a public warning.

22Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: "May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire."

22And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;

NoteCurses in this culture worked by naming a precedent: "may you end up like so-and-so." There is a grim pun in the Hebrew, the word for "curse" (*qelalah*) echoes the word for "roasted" (*qalam*).

23They have done a disgraceful thing in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and they have spoken lies in my name, which I never told them to do. I know it, and I am a witness to it, says the LORD.

23Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.

NoteThe word behind "disgraceful thing" (*nebalah*) denotes an act that violates the community's basic decency, and is used especially of sexual outrages. Adultery was a capital offense under Israelite law, so the charge is criminal, not merely moral.

24You are also to say this to Shemaiah the Nehelamite:

24Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

NoteNehelam is otherwise unknown as a place or a family. The name resembles the Hebrew verb "to dream," and the resemblance may well be the point in a chapter about prophets peddling dreams.

25This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 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. In them you said:

25Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

NoteSending letters "in your own name" means on his own authority rather than as a message he claims to have received. Zephaniah son of Maaseiah was the second-ranking priest at the temple, the deputy to the chief priest, which is why an appeal about disorder in the temple goes to him.

26"The LORD has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, so that there would be officers in the house of the LORD. Your job is to take any madman who acts like a prophet and lock him up in the stocks and in iron collars.

26The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.

NoteJehoiada was Zephaniah's predecessor in the post. The officer in charge of the temple was effectively its chief of police, responsible for order in the courts. Prophets were commonly thought to behave like madmen (the ecstatic trembling, shouting and strange acts that went with the role), so "madman who acts like a prophet" is a sneer with a legal edge. The stocks clamped the feet or the body in a bent position; the iron collar was a neck restraint. Both were public humiliation as much as confinement.

27So why have you not corrected Jeremiah of Anathoth, who acts like a prophet among you?

27Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?

NoteAnathoth was a village of priests about three miles north-east of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah's home town; calling him "Jeremiah of Anathoth" places him as a provincial, not a member of the Jerusalem temple establishment.

28He has even sent word to us here in Babylon, saying, 'This exile will last a long time. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat what grows in them.'"

28For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

29Zephaniah the priest read this letter out loud to Jeremiah the prophet.

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

30Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

30Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,

31Send this message to all the exiles: This is what the LORD says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet, though I did not send him, and he has made you trust a lie.

31Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:

32So this is what the LORD says: I am going 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 that I am going to do for my people, says the LORD, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD.

32Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.

NoteTo have "no one left living among this people" means his family line dies out. In a society without written wills or lasting records for ordinary people, descendants were how a man's name, land and memory survived; losing them erased him from the community's future as well as from the return home.