Jeremiah 29:11-29 (NIV) (2024)

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Listen to Jeremiah 29:11-29

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¹¹For I know the plans^(A) I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper^(B) you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.^(C) ¹²Then you will call^(D) on me and come and pray^(E) to me, and I will listen^(F) to you. ¹³You will seek^(G) me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.^(H) ¹⁴I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back^(I) from captivity.^[a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”^(J)

¹⁵You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” ¹⁶but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile— ¹⁷yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague^(K) against them and I will make them like figs^(L) that are so bad they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent^(M) to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse^[b]^(N) and an object of horror,^(O) of scorn^(P) and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. ¹⁹For they have not listened to my words,”^(Q) declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again^(R) by my servants the prophets.^(S) And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord.

²⁰Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent^(T) away from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²¹This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies^(U) to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. ²²Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned^(V) in the fire.’ ²³For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery^(W) with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they have uttered lies—which I did not authorize. I know^(X) it and am a witness^(Y) to it,” declares the Lord.

Message to Shemaiah

²⁴Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ²⁵“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah^(Z) son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, ²⁶‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the Lord; you should put any maniac^(AA) who acts like a prophet into the stocks^(AB) and neck-irons. ²⁷So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? ²⁸He has sent this message^(AC) to us in Babylon: It will be a long time.^(AD) Therefore build^(AE) houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”

²⁹Zephaniah^(AF) the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet.

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 29:14 Or will restore your fortunes
Jeremiah 29:18 That is, their names will be used in cursing (see verse 22); or, others will see that they are cursed.

Cross references

Jeremiah 29:11 : Ps 40:5
Jeremiah 29:11 : Isa 55:12
Jeremiah 29:11 : S Job 8:7; Zec 8:15
Jeremiah 29:12 : Hos 2:23; Zep 3:12; Zec 13:9
Jeremiah 29:12 : S 1Ki 8:30
Jeremiah 29:12 : Ps 145:19; S Isa 55:6
Jeremiah 29:13 : Mt 7:7
Jeremiah 29:13 : S Dt 4:29; S 2Ch 6:37
Jeremiah 29:14 : S Dt 30:3; Jer 30:3; Eze 39:25; Am 9:14; Zep 3:20
Jeremiah 29:14 : Jer 23:3-4; 30:10; 46:27; Eze 37:21
Jeremiah 29:17 : Jer 27:8
Jeremiah 29:17 : S Isa 5:4
Jeremiah 29:18 : S Jer 15:4
Jeremiah 29:18 : S Nu 5:27; S Jer 18:16; S 22:10; 44:12
Jeremiah 29:18 : S Dt 28:25
Jeremiah 29:18 : S Dt 28:37; S Isa 28:22; S Mic 2:6
Jeremiah 29:19 : Jer 6:19
Jeremiah 29:19 : Jer 7:25
Jeremiah 29:19 : S Jer 25:4
Jeremiah 29:20 : S Jer 24:5
Jeremiah 29:21 : ver 9; Jer 14:14
Jeremiah 29:22 : Da 3:6
Jeremiah 29:23 : S Jer 23:14
Jeremiah 29:23 : S Heb 4:13
Jeremiah 29:23 : S Ge 31:48; S Jer 7:11
Jeremiah 29:25 : S 2Ki 25:18
Jeremiah 29:26 : S 1Sa 10:11; Hos 9:7; S Jn 10:20
Jeremiah 29:26 : Jer 20:2
Jeremiah 29:28 : ver 1
Jeremiah 29:28 : ver 10
Jeremiah 29:28 : ver 5
Jeremiah 29:29 : Jer 21:1

Listen to Jeremiah 29:11-29

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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.

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

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

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.

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

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;

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.

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:

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.

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

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;

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;

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.

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

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,

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.

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

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.

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

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Jeremiah 29:11-29 (NIV) (2024)

Message to Shemaiah

Footnotes

Cross references

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