Jeremiah 29:1-23--Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles

Jeremiah 29:1-23
English Standard Version

Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles
29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent 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: 4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.

10 “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

15 “Because you have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ 16 thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 17 ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.’ 20 Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21 ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22 Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23 because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.’”

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This is a great message for us when we remember that we live as exiles in an alien and hostile culture.  The LORD tells His people to live even while they are in exile.  They are to take jobs and marry and have children.  They are to flourish and make sure they do not diminish in population or in faith.  They are to cling to their identity and to the LORD and His Word.  They are not to worship the gods of the Babylonians or the other nations around them, nor are they to believe the word of the false prophets who may try to speak lies claiming that the LORD gave them a vision or prophecy that did not come from Him.

The appointed time will come when He would gather all of His people together and lead them back out of Exile to the Promised Land.  Until then, they are to pray for those who have taken them into exile and to do good for them.  If good things happen to their captors, then they will receive some of that good by extension, but if things go poorly for their captors, they will certainly feel some of that pain and suffering as well.  The LORD would do all the things He promised to those who resisted His sending His people into Exile.  Sword, plague, famine, and pestilence would take the lives of many rebellious people of Judah.

The LORD knows who the false prophets are who are spreading lies in His Name, and He will deliver them into the hand of the king of Babylon for him to punish them.  Until then, the LORD tells the exiles to treat these false prophets as accursed people.  They should keep their distance from them as they would any other who had committed the high-handed sins of rebellion these men had committed (sins like adultery).  The LORD has judged them and found them guilty and worthy of death, and He would use the hands of the Babylonians to accomplish this.