Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles
This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the others Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Act 15:23Est 9:20Heb 13:22Jer 29:25-29Rev 2:1-32Ch 30:1-62Co 7:8Jer 24:1-7 (This was after King Jeconiah, 1 the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had been exiled from Jerusalem.) Jer 22:24-282Ch 36:9-102Ki 24:12-16Jer 27:202Ki 20:182Ki 9:32Dan 1:3-21Jer 24:1 The letter was entrusted to Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It stated: 1Ch 6:132Ch 34:202Ki 22:122Ki 22:8Ezk 8:11Jer 26:24Jer 36:25Jer 39:14
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles who were carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Jer 24:5Amo 3:6Isa 10:5-6Isa 45:7Isa 59:1-2Isa 5:5 “Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Jer 29:28Jer 29:10Ezk 28:26 Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. Gen 21:21Gen 24:3-4Gen 24:51Gen 28:1-4Gen 29:19Jdg 12:91Co 7:36-381Ti 5:14 Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have sent you as exiles. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 1Ti 2:1-2Ezr 6:101Pe 2:13-17Ezr 7:23Dan 4:27Rom 13:1Rom 13:5Dan 4:19
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them. Eph 5:62Th 2:9-11Jer 5:312Pe 2:2-32Ti 3:13Jer 14:14Jer 27:14-15Jer 27:9 For they are falsely prophesying to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the LORD.” 2 Jer 27:15Jer 29:31Jer 29:23
For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place. Dan 9:2Jer 24:6-7Zec 7:5Jer 25:12Jer 27:22Jer 32:42-442Ch 36:21Zep 2:7 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. Isa 55:8-12Psa 33:11Mic 4:12Psa 40:5Job 23:13Lam 3:26Isa 46:10-11Ezk 34:11-31 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. Mat 7:7-8Jer 33:3Psa 50:15Psa 145:19Psa 10:17Isa 65:24Zec 13:9Jer 31:9 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Deu 4:29-31Psa 119:2Mat 7:7Psa 119:10Jer 24:7Jol 2:12Luk 11:9-10Psa 91:15 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity 3and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.” Ezk 36:1-38Jer 30:31Ch 28:9Mic 4:12Rom 10:202Ch 15:12-15Deu 30:3Isa 45:19
Because you may say, “The LORD has raised up for us prophets in Babylon,” Ezk 1:1Ezk 1:3Jer 28:1-17Jer 29:8-9 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 brothers who did not go with you into exile— Jer 38:17-23Jer 38:2-3Ezk 17:12-21Ezk 21:9-27Ezk 22:31Ezk 24:1-14Ezk 6:1-9Jer 24:2 this is what the LORD of Hosts says: Jer 24:8-10Jer 29:18Ezk 14:12-21Ezk 5:12-17Jer 15:2-3Jer 24:1-3Jer 27:8Jer 34:17-22
“I will send against them sword and famine and plague, and I will make them like rotten figs, so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them. 2Ch 29:8Jer 15:4Jer 42:18Deu 28:25Jer 24:9Jer 34:17Ezk 12:15Isa 65:15 I will do this because they have not listened to My words, declares the LORD, which I sent to them again and again 4through My servants the prophets. And neither have you exiles listened, declares the LORD.” Jer 6:19Jer 26:5Heb 12:25Jer 25:3-7Jer 34:17Jer 35:14-16Jer 7:13Jer 7:24-26
So hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Jer 24:5Mic 4:10Ezk 3:11Ezk 3:15 This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you lies in My name: “I will deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes. Jer 14:14-15Jer 29:8-9Lam 2:14 Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’ Dan 3:6Isa 65:15Dan 3:21Gen 48:201Co 16:22Rut 4:11 For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the LORD.” Heb 4:13Jer 23:14Mal 3:5Jer 16:17Jer 29:21Jer 29:8-9Pro 5:212Pe 2:10-19
The Message to Shemaiah
You are to tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite that Jer 29:31-32 this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “In your own name you have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. You said to Zephaniah: 5 Jer 29:29Jer 37:3Jer 52:241Ki 21:8-132Ch 32:172Ki 10:1-72Ki 19:142Ki 19:9
‘The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada, to be the chief officer in the house of the LORD, responsible for any madman who acts like a prophet—you must put him in stocks and neck irons. Jer 20:1-22Ki 9:11Act 26:24Hos 9:7Jhn 10:20Act 16:24Deu 13:1-5Mrk 3:21 So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? 2Ch 25:162Ti 3:8Act 4:17-21Act 5:28Act 5:40Amo 7:12-13Jer 1:1Jer 29:26 For he has sent to us in Babylon, claiming: Since the exile will be lengthy, build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat their produce.’” Jer 29:5Jer 29:1Jer 29:10
(Zephaniah the priest, however, had read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet.) Jer 29:25
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Send a message telling all the exiles what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you—though I did not send him—and has made you trust in a lie, Jer 29:9Ezk 13:22-23Ezk 13:8-16Jer 14:14-15Jer 29:23-242Pe 2:1Jer 23:21Jer 28:15-17 this is what the LORD 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 that I will bring to My people, declares the LORD, for he has preached rebellion against the LORD.’” Jer 28:162Ki 7:19-20Jer 17:61Sa 2:30-342Ki 7:2Jer 22:302Ki 5:27Amo 7:17