KJ3 Literal Translation
Jeremiah 29
Jeremiah sends a letter to the captives in Babylon not to believe the dreams of their prophets, also they shall return after seventy years. The fearful end of Ahab and Zedekiah.
1And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon
2after Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the eunuchs, the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had gone out from Jerusalem.
3He 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, saying,
4So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have caused to be exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5Build houses and live, and plant gardens, and eat their fruit.
6Take wives, and father sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons; and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and do not become few.
7And seek the peace of the city, there where I have caused you to be exiled. And pray to Jehovah for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.
8For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are in your midst deceive you, and ones divining to you. And do not listen to their dreams which you dream.
9For they prophesy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them, says Jehovah.
10For so says Jehovah, When according to My mouth seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and confirm My good Word to you, to bring you back to this place.
11For I know the purposes which I am planning for you, a statement of Jehovah; purposes of peace, and not for evil; to give you a latter time and a hope.
12Then you shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13And you shall seek and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
14And I will be found by you, a statement of Jehovah. And I will turn back your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have banished you, a statement of Jehovah. And I will bring you back into the place from which I sent you into exile, from there.
15Because you have said, Jehovah has raised up for us prophets in Babylon,
16for so says Jehovah to the king who sits on the throne of David, and to all the people who live in this city, your brothers who have not gone out with you into exile,
17so says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, I am sending among them the sword, the famine, and the plague. And have given them up as figs that are vile, which cannot be eaten from badness.
18And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague. And I will give them to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and a waste, and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations, there where I have banished them.
19For they have not listened to My words, a statement of Jehovah, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending; but you would not hear, a statement of Jehovah.
20And now you hear the Word of Jehovah, all you exiles whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel 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 give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them before your eyes.
22And a curse shall be taken up from them for all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, May Jehovah set you out like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,
23because they have committed disgraceful folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbor's wives, and have spoken a lying word in My name, which I have not commanded them. For I am He who knows, and a witness, a statement of Jehovah.
24You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
25So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26Jehovah has given you to be priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be overseers in the house of Jehovah, over every man being mad who prophesies, that you should put him into the stocks and into the torture collar.
27And now why have you not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?
28For on account of this he sent to us in Babylon, saying, This exile is long; build houses and live; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.
29And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
30Then the Word of Jehovah was to Jeremiah, saying,
31Send to all the exiles, saying, So says Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him; and he caused you to trust in a lie;
32therefore so says Jehovah, Behold, I will watch over Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed. There shall not be to him a man living among this people; and he shall not behold the good which I shall do for My people, a statement of Jehovah, because he has uttered rebellion against Jehovah.
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