ESV

ESV

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
The Blue Letter Bible

Jeremiah 29 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

toggle collapse
Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:1 - 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:2 - 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:3 - 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:
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:4 - “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:5 - Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:6 - 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:7 - But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:8 - For thus says the LORD 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,[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:9 - for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:10 - “For thus says the LORD: 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare[fn] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:12 - Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:13 - You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:14 - I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:15 - “Because you have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:16 - thus says the LORD 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:
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:17 - ‘Thus says the LORD 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:18 - 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,
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:19 - because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.’
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:20 - Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:21 - ‘Thus says the LORD 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:22 - Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,”
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:23 - 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 LORD.’”

Shemaiah’s False Prophecy

Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:24 - To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say:
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:25 - “Thus says the LORD 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,
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:26 - ‘The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and neck irons.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:27 - Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you?
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:28 - 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.”’”
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:29 - Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:30 - Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:31 - “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,
Unchecked Copy BoxJer 29:32 - therefore thus says the LORD: 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 LORD, for he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.’”
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew your dreams, which you cause to dream
Or peace
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

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

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
ESV
 [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
ESV

Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan