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.
2(This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, and the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the smiths had gone out from Jerusalem.)
3by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Babylon, saying:
4Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6Take 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. Multiply there, and do not decrease.
7And seek the welfare of the city where I have exiled you, and pray on its behalf to Yahweh, for in its welfare you will have welfare.
8For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are among you, and your diviners, deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you cause to be dreamed.
9For they are prophesying to you falsely in my name; I did not send them—declaration of Yahweh.
10For thus says Yahweh: When seventy years for Babylon are completed, I will attend to you and confirm for you my good word, to bring you back to this place.
11For I myself know the plans that I am planning for you—declaration of Yahweh—plans for welfare and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
12Then you will call on me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.
14And I will be found by you—declaration of Yahweh—and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you—declaration of Yahweh—and I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.
15Because you have said, ‘Yahweh has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’—
16for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who did not go out with you into exile—
17thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold, I am sending against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten from their badness.
18And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and a desolation and a hissing and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
19because they did not listen to my words—declaration of Yahweh—which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, and you did not listen—declaration of Yahweh.
20But you, hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in my name: Behold, I am giving them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.
22And from them a curse will be taken up by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire’—
23because they committed an outrage in Israel and committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and spoke a word in my name falsely, which I did not command them. And I am the one who knows, and a witness—declaration of Yahweh.
24And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying:
25Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you, in your own name, have sent letters to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26‘Yahweh has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be overseers of the house of Yahweh over every madman who prophesies, that you should put him in the stocks and in the collar.
27So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is prophesying to you?
28For on this account he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “It will be long; build houses and dwell in them, 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 Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying:
31Send to all the exiles, saying: Thus says Yahweh to Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,
32therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He shall have no one dwelling among this people, nor shall he see the good that I am about to do for my people, declares Yahweh, for he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.
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