Jeremiah 29 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

A Letter to the Exiles

Jer 29:1Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.

Jer 29:2

Jer 29:2This was after King Jehoiachin,[fn] the queen mother, the court officials, the other officials of Judah, and all the craftsmen and artisans had been deported from Jerusalem.

Jer 29:3

Jer 29:3He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah’s ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah’s letter said:

Jer 29:4

Jer 29:4This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem:

Jer 29:5

Jer 29:5“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.

Jer 29:6

Jer 29:6Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!

Jer 29:7

Jer 29:7And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

Jer 29:8

Jer 29:8This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams,

Jer 29:9

Jer 29:9because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the LORD.

Jer 29:10

Jer 29:10This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.

Jer 29:11

Jer 29:11For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jer 29:12

Jer 29:12In those days when you pray, I will listen.

Jer 29:13

Jer 29:13If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

Jer 29:14

Jer 29:14I will be found by you,” says the LORD. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

Jer 29:15

Jer 29:15You claim that the LORD has raised up prophets for you in Babylon.

Jer 29:16

Jer 29:16But this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem—your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon.

Jer 29:17

Jer 29:17This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, too rotten to eat.

Jer 29:18

Jer 29:18Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery.

Jer 29:19

Jer 29:19For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent. And you who are in exile have not listened either,” says the LORD.

Jer 29:20

Jer 29:20Therefore, listen to this message from the LORD, all you captives there in Babylon.

Jer 29:21

Jer 29:21This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about your prophets—Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah—who are telling you lies in my name: “I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar[fn] for execution before your eyes.

Jer 29:22

Jer 29:22Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’

Jer 29:23

Jer 29:23For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name, saying things I did not command. I am a witness to this. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

A Message for Shemaiah

Jer 29:24

Jer 29:24The LORD sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon:

Jer 29:25

Jer 29:25“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests and people in Jerusalem. You wrote to Zephaniah,

Jer 29:26

Jer 29:26“The LORD has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the house of the LORD. You are responsible to put into stocks and neck irons any crazy man who claims to be a prophet.

Jer 29:27

Jer 29:27So why have you done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you?

Jer 29:28

Jer 29:28Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon, predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said, ‘Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.’”

Jer 29:29

Jer 29:29But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah’s letter, he took it to Jeremiah and read it to him.

Jer 29:30

Jer 29:30Then the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah:

Jer 29:31

Jer 29:31“Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing his lies,

Jer 29:32

Jer 29:32I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for he has incited you to rebel against me. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(29:2)

Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin.

(29:21)

Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.