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Jeremiah 29
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Chapter 29
The letter to the exiles
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This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to those elders carried off into exile, to the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
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This was after King Jeconiah had left Jerusalem with the queen mother, the eunuchs, the nobility of Judah and Jerusalem, and the blacksmiths and metalworkers.
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The letter was entrusted to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter said:
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‘Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this to all the exiles deported from Jerusalem to Babylon,
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“Build houses, settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce;
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take wives and have sons and daughters; choose wives for your sons, find husbands for your daughters so that these can bear sons and daughters in their turn; you must increase there and not decrease.
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Work for the good of the country to which I have exiled you; pray to Yahweh on its behalf, since on its welfare yours depends.
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For Yahweh says this: Only when the seventy years granted to Babylon are over, will I visit you and fulfil my promise in your favour by bringing you back to this place.
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I know the plans I have in mind for you – it is Yahweh who speaks – plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you.
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Then when you call to me, and come to plead with me, I will listen to you.
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When you seek me you shall find me, when you seek me with all your heart;
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I will let you find me ( – it is Yahweh who speaks. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have dispersed you – it is Yahweh who speaks. I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.)
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“You may say: Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,
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but thus says Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel: Do not be deceived by the prophets among you or by your diviners; do not listen to the dreams they dream,
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since they prophesy lies to you in my name. I have not sent them – it is Yahweh who speaks.
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“For this is what Yahweh says about the king now seated on the throne of David and all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile:
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Thus says Yahweh Sabaoth: I am now going to send them sword, famine and plague; I will make them like rotten figs, so bad as to be uneatable.
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I will pursue them with sword, famine and plague, and make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, a thing of wonder, scorn, derision, for all the nations where I have dispersed them;
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because they have refused to listen to my words – it is Yahweh who speaks – although I have persistently sent them all my servants the prophets. However, they would not listen – it is Yahweh who speaks.
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But all you exiles, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to the word of Yahweh.
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“This is what Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: I shall hand them over now to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon who will strike them before your eyes.
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This curse, based on their fate, will be used by all the exiles of Judah in Babylon: May Yahweh treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, roasted alive by the king of Babylon!
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Such is the fate of those who perpetrate infamies in Israel, committing adultery with other men’s wives, speaking words in my name without orders from me. I know all the same; I see – it is Yahweh who speaks.”‘
An exile objects to Jeremiah’s letter
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Shemaiah of Nehelam sent a letter of his own (to all the people in Jerusalem)
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to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah (and to all the priests), which said:
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‘Yahweh has appointed you priest in succession to Jehoiada to keep order in the Temple of Yahweh; in the case of a madman who acts the prophet, your duty is to put him in the stocks and iron collar.
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This being the case, why have you not disciplined Jeremiah of Anathoth, who poses as a prophet to you?
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– since on the strength of this pretension he has sent a message to us in Babylon to say, “It will be a long time. Build houses, settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.”‘
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The priest Zephaniah read this letter aloud to the prophet Jeremiah.
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The word of Yahweh, however, was addressed to Jeremiah,
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‘Send this message to all the exiles, “This is what Yahweh says about Shemaiah of Nehelam: Since Shemaiah has prophesied to you without my sending him, and since it is due to him that you are now relying on what is false,
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now therefore – thus says Yahweh – I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants; no male member of his family shall survive among this people to see the happiness that I will bestow on my people ( – it is Yahweh who speaks – since he has preached apostasy from Yahweh).”‘
Chapters of Jeremiah
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
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