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is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders who were carried away captive, and to the priests, the prophets, and to all the people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had gone into exile from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter read:
4 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all who were carried away as captives, whom I have caused to be carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build yourselves houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they also may bear sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 And seek the peace and prosperity of the city where I have caused you to be carried into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for when it has peace, then you will have peace.”
8 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that you encourage them to dream. 9 For they are prophesying falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfil My gracious promise and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring you back to this place from which I cause you to be carried away into exile.”
15 You have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon!” 16 But this is what the Lord says concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city—that is, concerning your brothers who have not gone with you into exile: 17 This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Behold, I will send against them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and I will make them an abhorrence among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an object of horror, and hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have banished them. 19 For they have not heeded My words,” declares the Lord, “that I sent to them by My servants the prophets again and again. And you have not heeded them either,” declares the Lord.
20 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says of Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah 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 will kill them before your eyes’. 22 And because of them, a curse will be taken up by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon: The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire! 23 For they have done disgraceful things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I did not command them. I am the one who knows it, and I am a witness to it,” declares the Lord.
24 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you are to say, 25 “This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests, saying: 26 “The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest to be the officer in charge of the House of the Lord, with responsibility over any madman who thinks he is a prophet, that you should confine him in stocks and neck-irons. 27 So therefore why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself as a prophet to you? 28 For he has sent this word to us in Babylon, claiming: This exile will be long. Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat what they produce’.”
29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31 “Send a message to all the exiles, saying: This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and he has led you to trust in a lie, 32 therefore this is what the Lord says: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will not have anyone left living among this people, nor will he see the good that I will do for My people, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.”