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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 ESV</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="../">ESV</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">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/jeremiah/29.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken 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 Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>The 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. It said: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent 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 live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>For thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew your dreams, which you cause to dream">a</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>“For thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and 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="divine-name">Lord</span>, plans for welfare<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or peace">b</a></sup></span> and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear 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="divine-name">Lord</span>, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>“Because you have said, ‘The <span class="divine-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>thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>‘Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten 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 sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Hear the word of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>‘Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.’”</p> <p class="heading">Shemaiah’s False Prophecy</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>“Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>‘The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the house of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and neck irons. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of 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="divine-name">Lord</span> came to Jeremiah: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>“Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>therefore thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, for he has spoken rebellion against the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.’”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">8</span> Hebrew <i>your dreams, which you cause to dream</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">11</span> Or <i>peace</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 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