Jeremiah 29

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

²(This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)

³The letter was sent by 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 the Lord

⁵Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.

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

⁷And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord

⁸For thus says the Lord

⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord

¹⁰For thus says the Lord

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord

¹²Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

¹³And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will be found by you, says the Lord

¹⁵Because you have said, “The Lord

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord

¹⁷thus says the Lord

¹⁸And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,

¹⁹because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord

²⁰Therefore hear the word of the Lord

²¹Thus says the Lord

²²And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The Lord

²³because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I know, and am a witness, says the Lord

²⁴You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

²⁵Thus speaks the Lord

²⁶“The Lord

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

²⁸For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ”

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

³⁰Then the word of the Lord

³¹Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord

³²therefore thus says the Lord