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Jeremiah 29

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Jeremiah Sends a Letter to the Exiles 1–3

1
Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, ​
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(after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem), ​
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by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying, ​

Instructions for Life in Exile 4–7

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Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem unto Babylon: ​
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Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. ​
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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: and multiply ye there, and be not diminished.
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And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto Jehovah for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. ​

Warning Against False Hope and Promise of Return 8–14

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For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither hearken ye to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. ​
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For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith Jehovah.
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For thus saith Jehovah, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. ​
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For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end. ​
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And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
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And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. ​
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And I will be found of you, saith Jehovah, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again unto the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Judgment on Jerusalem and False Prophets 15–23

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Because ye have said, Jehovah hath raised us up prophets in Babylon; ​
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thus saith Jehovah 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 captivity;
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thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. ​
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And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them;
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because they have not hearkened to my words, saith Jehovah, wherewith I sent unto them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith Jehovah.
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Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.
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Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie unto you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes; ​
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and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; ​
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because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I commanded them not; and I am he that knoweth, and am witness, saith Jehovah. ​

The Condemnation of Shemaiah the Nehelamite 24–32

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And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shalt speak, saying, ​
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Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thine own name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
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Jehovah hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Jehovah, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in the stocks and in shackles. ​
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Now therefore, why hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh himself a prophet to you,
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forasmuch as he hath sent unto us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them? ​
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And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
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Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying,
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Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he hath caused you to trust in a lie;
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therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he behold the good that I will do unto my people, saith Jehovah, because he hath spoken rebellion against Jehovah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 29

Verse 1

the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent — Sepher, a written document, sent from Jerusalem to the 'residue of the elders' and to the priests, prophets and people Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon. The numbers of that captivity are in 2 Kings 24:14–16. The chapter holds this letter (vv.4–23) and the reply to a counter-letter (vv.25–32).

Verse 2

Jeconiah the king, and the queen — Jeconiah is Jehoiachin, who 'went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers' (2 Kings 24:12); Jeremiah also writes 'Coniah' (Jer 22:24). 'Departed' is yatsa, went out. The 'carpenters and smiths' are the craftsmen of 2 Kings 24:14, 16; Jer 24:1 names them again.

Verse 3

Elasah the son of Shaphan — Shaphan is the scribe to whom Hilkiah gave the found book of the law (2 Kings 22:8), and a son of his, Ahikam, 'was with Jeremiah' (Jer 26:24). The envoys were sent by Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made king in Jehoiachin's place (2 Kings 24:17), so the letter travelled with an official embassy.

Verse 4

whom I have caused to be carried away — The verb galah is in the causative form: the LORD himself exiled them, as Jer 24:5 says, 'whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good'. He calls Nebuchadrezzar 'my servant' (Jer 25:9). The double title, 'LORD of hosts, the God of Israel', opens the messages of vv.4, 8, 21 and 25.

Verse 5

Build ye houses, and dwell in them — The Law's curse had the reverse: 'thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof' (Deut 28:30). Here the exiles are told to dwell and eat the fruit; v.6 adds marriage and children, 'that ye may be increased there, and not diminished'.

Verse 7

seek the peace of the city — Shalom, peace or welfare, stands three times in the verse. 'Seek' is darash, the verb of v.13, 'search for me with all your heart'. The exiles are to 'pray unto the LORD for it', as Ps 122:6 says of Jerusalem, 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem'; Paul asks prayer 'for kings, and for all that are in authority' (1 Tim 2:1–2).

Verse 8

your prophets and your diviners — 'Diviners' is qasam, those who seek signs. The exiles are not to 'hearken to your dreams'; the LORD says of such prophets, 'they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them' (v.9). Compare 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed' (Jer 23:25) and the dreamer of Deut 13:1–3.

Verse 10

after seventy years be accomplished — The number is the one given in Jer 25:11–12, 'serve the king of Babylon seventy years', and Daniel 'understood by books the number of the years' (Dan 9:2). 'Visit' is paqad, the verb of v.32, 'I will punish Shemaiah'. 'My good word' (tov) is answered by 'the good that I will do' in v.32.

Verse 11

an expected end — The two words are acharit, the end or latter part, and tiqvah, expectation or hope, the pair of Prov 23:18, 'there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off', and Jer 31:17, 'there is hope in thine end'. 'Peace' is the shalom of v.7; its opposite is 'evil' (ra). The thoughts are the LORD's own.

Verse 13

seek me, and find me — The two verbs are baqash, to seek, and darash, to search out, the verb of v.7. The promise is the one Moses gave for the very situation of exile: 'if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart' (Deut 4:29). Christ's 'seek, and ye shall find' is in Matt 7:7.

Verse 15

The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon — The claim is the exiles' own. Ezekiel was among them and a prophet by the LORD's word (Ezek 1:1, 3), so the issue is who was sent: 'I have not sent them' (v.9). The answer begins in v.16 with the king and people still in Jerusalem, and names the two men in vv.21–23.

Verse 17

vile figs — Sha'ar, repulsive, a word found only here in Hebrew as tagged in the KJV. The figure is the second basket of Jer 24: 'the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil' (Jer 24:8), while the exiles are the good figs (Jer 24:5). 'The sword, the famine, and the pestilence' is the triad of Jer 24:10; the famine of the siege is told in Jer 52:6.

Verse 21

Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and… Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah — These are two prophets among the exiles, not the kings of the same names. They 'prophesy a lie' (sheqer) 'in my name', the offence of Jer 14:14 and of Deut 18:20: 'the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him… shall die'. The sentence falls 'before your eyes'.

Verse 22

The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab — A curse (qelalah) built on the pattern of a blessing: 'God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh' (Gen 48:20). 'Roasted' is qalah. A name left as a curse is spoken of in Isa 65:15, 'ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen'.

Verse 23

committed villany in Israel — Nebalah, folly of the gravest kind: it is the 'folly in Israel' of Gen 34:7 and Josh 7:15. Two charges stand together, adultery with 'neighbours' wives' and 'lying words in my name'; Jer 23:14 joins the same two in the prophets of Jerusalem, 'they commit adultery, and walk in lies'. 'A witness' is ed, as in Mal 3:5.

Verse 24

Shemaiah the Nehelamite — The word is sent against a man in Babylon who had himself written 'unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest' (v.25). Zephaniah is the priest Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah in Jer 21:1, and later 'the second priest' (Jer 52:24). The sentence on Shemaiah is in vv.31–32.

Verse 26

for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet — 'Mad' is shaga, the 'mad fellow' of 2 Kings 9:11. 'Officers' is paqid, an overseer of the house of the LORD, the office Pashur held when he put Jeremiah 'in the stocks' (Jer 20:1–2). Shemaiah asks Zephaniah to do to Jeremiah what Pashur did.

Verse 28

This captivity is long — Shemaiah quotes the letter of v.5 word for word and adds his own summary, 'This captivity is long'. The letter itself had named the length: 'seventy years' (v.10). What he reports as a reason to imprison Jeremiah is the instruction to build, dwell and plant that the LORD had given.

Verse 32

I will punish Shemaiah — 'Punish' is paqad, the verb of v.10, 'I will visit you': the same visit brings good to the exiles and judgment to him. 'Neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people' uses the tov of v.10. 'Rebellion' is sarah, turning aside, charged also on Hananiah (Jer 28:16) and on the dreamer of Deut 13:5.