Jeremiah 29

1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,

THUS SAITH THE LORD AGAINST THE PHILISTINES;

2 (after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem),

Behold, waters come up from the north, and shall become a sweeping torrent, and it shall sweep away the land, and its fulness; the city, and them that dwell in it: and men shall cry and all that dwell in the land shall howl,

3 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:

at the sound of his rushing, at [the sound of] his hoofs, and at the rattling of his chariots, at the noise of his wheels: the fathers turned not to their children because of the weakness of their hands,

4 The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

in the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines: and I will utterly destroy Tyre and Sidon and all the rest of their allies: for the Lord will destroy the remaining [inhabitants] of the islands.

5 “Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit.

Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ascalon is cast away, and the remnant of the Enakim.

6 Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished.

How long will you strike, O sword of the Lord? how long will it be ere you are quiet? return into your sheath, rest, and be removed.

7 Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”

How shall it be quiet, whereas the Lord has given it a commission against Ascalon, and against the regions on the sea-coast, to awake against the remaining [countries]! CONCERNING IDUMEA, thus says the Lord; There is no longer wisdom in Thaeman, counsel has perished from the wise ones, their wisdom is gone,

8 For the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are amongst you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamt.

their place has been deceived. Dig deep for a dwelling, you that inhabit Daedam, for he has wrought grievously: I brought trouble upon him in the time at which I visited him.

9 For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says the LORD.

For grape gatherers are come, who shall not leave you a remnant; as thieves by night, they shall lay their hand upon [your possessions].

10 For the LORD says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word towards you, in causing you to return to this place.

For I have stripped Esau, I have uncovered their secret places; they shall have no power to hide themselves, they have perished [each] by the hand of his brother, my neighbour, and it is impossible

11 For I know the thoughts that I think towards you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.

for your fatherless one to be left to live, but I shall live, and the widows trust in me.

12 You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

For thus says the Lord; They who were not appointed to drink the cup have drunk [it]; and you shall by no means be cleared:

13 You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.

for by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, that you shall be in the midst of her an impassable [land], and a reproach, and a curse; and all her cities shall be desert for ever.

14 I will be found by you,” says the LORD, “and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you,” says the LORD. “I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.”

I have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent messengers to the nations, [saying, ]Assemble yourselves, and come against her; rise you up to war.

15 Because you have said, “The LORD has raised us up prophets in Babylon,”

I have made you small amongst the nations, utterly contemptible amongst men.

16 the LORD says concerning the king who sits on David’s throne, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone with you into captivity,

Your insolence has risen up against you, the fierceness of your heart has burst the holes of the rocks, it has seized upon the strength of a lofty hill; for as an eagle he set his nest on high: thence will I bring you down.

17 the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.

And Idumea shall be a desert: every one that passes by shall hiss at it.

18 I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth amongst all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach amongst all the nations where I have driven them,

As Sodom was overthrown and Gomorrha and they that sojourned in her, says the Lord Almighty, no man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man inhabit there.

19 because they have not listened to my words,” says the LORD, “with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,” says the LORD.

Behold, he shall come up as a lion out of the midst of Jordan to the place of Aetham: for I will speedily drive them from it, and do you set the young men against her: for who is like me? and who will withstand me? and who [is] this shepherd, who shall confront me?

20 Hear therefore the LORD’s word, all you captives whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Therefore hear you the counsel of the Lord, which he has framed against Idumea; and his device, which he has devised against the inhabitants of Thaeman: surely the least of the sheep shall be swept off; surely their dwelling shall be made desolate for them.

21 The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes.

For at the sound of their fall the earth was scared, and the cry of the sea was not heard.

22 A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘The LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;’

Behold, he shall look [upon her] as an eagle, and spread forth [his] wings over her strongholds; and the heart of the mighty men of Idumea shall be in that day as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

23 because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says the LORD.

24 Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,

25 “The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

26 “The LORD has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the LORD’s house, for every man who is crazy and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you,

28 because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long. Build houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat their fruit?”’”

29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.

30 Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,

31 “Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘The LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,”

32 therefore the LORD says, “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell amongst this people. He won’t see the good that I will do to my people,” says the LORD, “because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.”’”