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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Jeremiah 29 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/jeremiah/29.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/jeremiah/29-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Jeremiah 29</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../jeremiah/28.htm" title="Jeremiah 28">◄</a> Jeremiah 29 <a href="../jeremiah/30.htm" title="Jeremiah 30">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/jeremiah/29.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">A Letter to the Exiles</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>(This was after King Jehoiachin <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin">a</a></sup></span> and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:</p> <p class="emb"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>This is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Marry 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. Increase in number there; do not decrease. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the <span class="name">Lord</span> for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Yes, this is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>This is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>I will be found by you,” declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>, “and will bring you back from captivity. <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or will restore your fortunes">b</a></sup></span> I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>You may say, “The <span class="name">Lord</span> has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>but this is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> 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— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>yes, this is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="That is, their names will be used in cursing (see verse 22); or, others will see that they are cursed.">c</a></sup></span> and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>For they have not listened to my words,” declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Therefore, hear the word of the <span class="name">Lord</span>, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>This is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the <span class="name">Lord</span> treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they have uttered lies—which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>.</p> <p class="sectionhead">Message to Shemaiah</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>“This is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>‘The <span class="name">Lord</span> has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the <span class="name">Lord</span>; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’ ”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Then the word of the <span class="name">Lord</span> came to Jeremiah: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>“Send this message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>this is what the <span class="name">Lord</span> says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the <span class="name">Lord</span>, because he has preached rebellion against me.’ ”</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">2</span> <span class="footnotebot">Hebrew <i>Jeconiah,</i> a variant of <i>Jehoiachin</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">14</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>will restore your fortunes</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">18</span> <span class="footnotebot">That is, their names will be used in cursing (see verse 22); or, others will see that they are cursed.</span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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