Jeremiah 29

1 And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders of the exiles, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon;

After King Jehoiachin, his mother, his palace officials, other officials in Judah, and all the various kinds of craftsmen [DOU] had been exiled to Babylon, I wrote a letter to the elders, the priests, the prophets and all the other people who had been taken from Jerusalem to Babylon by [soldiers of] Nebuchadnezzar.

2 (After king Jechonyah and the queen-mother, and the court-officers, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the locksmiths, were departed from Jerusalem; )

3 By the hand of El'assah the son of Shaphan, and Gemaryah the son of Chilkiyah, [whom Zedekiah the king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ] saying,

[I gave] the letter to Elasah the son of Shaphan, and to Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, when they were about to go to Babylon to be ambassadors from King Zedekiah to King Nebuchadnezzar. This is what I wrote in the letter:

4 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all the exiles, whom I have caused to be carried into exile from Jerusalem unto Babylon,

This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says to all you people who were captured [here] in Jerusalem and taken [there] to Babylon:

5 Build ye houses, and dwell therein; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit;

“Build houses [there], and plan to stay there [because you will be there for many years]. Plant gardens, and eat the food that is produced in the gardens.

6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may multiply there, and not be diminished.

Get married and have children. Then [when they grow up], choose wives for your sons, and husbands for your daughters, in order that they [also] may have children. [In that way], the number of you people will increase, not decrease.

7 And seek the welfare of the city whither I have banished you, and pray in its behalf unto the Lord; for in its welfare shall ye fare well.

Also, do things that will cause things to go well [for the other people there] in the city where I sent you. Pray that things will go well for [the people in] that city, because if things go well for them, things will go well for you, [also].”

8 For thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Let not your prophets, that are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you, and do not hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamt;

This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israeli people [worship], says: “There are [false] prophets and fortune-tellers among you. Do not allow them to deceive you. Do not pay attention to [them when they tell you] their dreams,

9 For with falsehood do they prophesy unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.

because they are telling you lies, saying that [MTY] [I have given them the messages that they are telling you]. But, I have not appointed them.”

10 For thus hath said the Lord, Because only after the accomplishment of seventy years for Babylon, will I visit you, and fulfill respecting you my good word, in causing you to return to this place.

This is [also] what Yahweh says: “After you [and your children] have been in Babylon for seventy years, I will help you, and do for you the things that I promised, and I will enable you to return here [to Jerusalem].

11 For I alone know the thoughts that I entertain respecting you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a [happy] future and hope.

I, Yahweh, know what I have planned for you. I am planning to cause things to go well for you, not to cause you to experience disasters. I am planning to give you many things that you confidently expect to receive in the future.

12 And you will call upon me, and ye will go and will pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

At that time, when you pray, I will heed you.

13 And ye will seek me, and shall find me, for ye will search for me with all your heart.

If you earnestly desire for me [to bless you], you will experience me [blessing you].

14 And I will be found of you, saith the Lord; and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will cause you to return unto the place whence I have banished you.

I will make my help available to you [IDM]. I will cause you to no longer be slaves [in Babylon]. I will gather you from all the nations to which I have exiled you, and I will bring you back [here to your own land], to the place from which you were taken.”

15 Because ye have said, The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon.

[Some of] you say that Yahweh has appointed prophets for you [there] in Babylon.

16 But thus hath said the Lord concerning the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people that dwell in this city, your brethren that are not gone forth with you into exile;

But this is what Yahweh says about the king who rules [here] in Jerusalem, and about all the other people who are [still] living here—your relatives who were not taken to Babylon with you.

17 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will send out against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence; and I will render them like the detestable figs, that cannot be eaten, from being so bad.

The Commander of the armies of angels says this: “I will cause them to experience wars and famines and diseases. I will cause them to become like [SIM] bad figs that are very rotten, with the result that no one can eat them.

18 And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will make them a horror unto all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, and an astonishment, and a derision, and a disgrace, among all the nations whither I have driven them;

I will not stop causing them to experience wars and famines and diseases. And I will scatter them all around the world. In every country where I (force them to be taken/exile them), I will cause them to be people whom [others] curse and be horrified about and make fun of [DOU].

19 For the reason that they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord, since I sent unto them my servants the prophets, causing them to rise up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the Lord.

[That will happen] because they have refused to pay attention to my messages, messages that I gave to the prophets whom I sent to them. And you [who have been exiled to Babylon] have not paid attention to them, [either].” [That is what] Yahweh says.

20 But ye—hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

[Therefore], you people who have been (exiled/forced to go) from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to this message from Yahweh.

21 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Achab the son of Kolayah, and of Zedekiah the son of Ma'asseyah, who prophesy unto you in my name falsehood, Behold, I will give them up into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon: and he shall smite them before your eyes.

This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says about Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and about Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are telling lies to you, saying that they are giving messages [MTY] from him: “They will be seized and taken to [MTY] King Nebuchadnezzar, who will cause them to be executed while you are watching.

22 And a curse shall be derived from them for all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May the Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Achab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;”

Because of [what will happen to] them, all you people who have been taken from Judah to Babylon will say this when they curse someone: ‘I hope/wish that Yahweh will do to you the same thing that he did to Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the King of Babylon caused to be [killed by being] burned in a fire.’

23 Because they have done scandalous deeds in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and have spoken in my name falsehood, which I had not commanded them; whereas I am the one that know, and am the witness, saith the Lord.

They have done terrible things to [my] Israeli people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken lies, saying that they were messages [MTY] from me. They have said things that I did not tell them to say, and I, Yahweh, have heard them [say those things].”

24 And to Shema'yahu the Nechelamite shalt thou say, as followeth,

[Yahweh told me to] send this message to Shemaiah, a man from Nehelam [town who was living in Babylon]:

25 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent in thy name letters unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephanyah the son of Ma'asseyah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says: “You wrote a letter that no one told you to write. You sent it to Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, and [you sent copies] to the other priests and all the [other] people here in Jerusalem. [This is what] you wrote to him:

26 The Lord hath appointed thee priest in the place of Jehoyada' the priest, that ye should be superintendents in the house of the Lord, for every man that is mad, and that prophesieth, that thou shouldst put him in the stocks, and in prison:

[Zephaniah], Yahweh has appointed you to be the priest instead of Jehoiada, to supervise those who work in the temple. Anyone who acts like a crazy man and who claims that he is a prophet, you should put his arms and legs and head into (stocks/a wooden frame [so that he cannot move)].

27 And now, why hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of 'Anathoth, who prophesieth to you?

So why have you not done anything to stop Jeremiah, the man from Anathoth [town], who [pretends that he] is a prophet among you?

28 For the reason that he hath sent unto us to Babylon saying, It will last a long time: build ye houses, and dwell therein; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit thereof.

He sent a letter to us [who are here] in Babylon, saying that [we will be here for] a long time. He said that [therefore] we should build houses and plan to stay here, and plant gardens, and eat the food that is produced in the gardens.”

29 And Zephanyah the priest read the letter before the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

[But when] Zephaniah the priest [received] the letter from you, he [brought it to me and] read it to me.

30 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,

Then Yahweh gave me this message:

31 Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus hath said the Lord concerning Shema'yah the Nechlamite, Whereas Shema'yah hath prophesied unto you, while I have not sent him, and he hath caused you to rely on a falsehood:

“Send this message to all the people [from Judah] who are there [in Babylon]. Say that this is what Yahweh says about Shemaiah, the man from Nehelam: ‘I did not appoint him, but he has deceived you and caused you to believe the lies that he prophesied.

32 Therefore thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will inflict punishment on Shema'yah the Nechlamite, and on his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell in the midst of this people; and he shall not behold the good that I am doing for my people, saith the Lord; because he hath spoken revolt against the Lord.

So, I will punish him and his family. He has incited you to rebel against me. Because of that, all of his descendants will soon die. I will do [many] good things for [you], my people, but he and his descendants will not see those things, [because they will be dead]. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it!’”