Jeremiah 29:4-20

English Standard Version

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 (A)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 ^(B)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: ^(C)Do not let your prophets and ^(D)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^{[a] 9} for ^(E)it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^(F)I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord: ^(G)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(H)I will visit you, ^(I)and I will fulfill to you my promise ^(J)and bring you back to this place. ^11 (K)For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[b] and not for evil, ^(L)to give you a future and a hope. ^12 (M)Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^(N)and I will hear you. ^13 (O)You will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^(P)with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, ^(Q)and I will restore your fortunes and ^(R)gather you from all the nations and all the places ^(S)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 ^(T)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 ^(U)sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^(V)vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with ^(W)sword, famine, and pestilence, ^(X)and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ^(Y)to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^(Z)where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ^(AA)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 ^(AB)whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: