Jeremiah 29:7-23

English Standard Version

⁷ But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^(A)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: ^(B)Do not let your prophets and ^(C)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^{[a] 9} for ^(D)it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^(E)I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord: ^(F)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(G)I will visit you, ^(H)and I will fulfill to you my promise ^(I)and bring you back to this place. ^11 (J)For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[b] and not for evil, ^(K)to give you a future and a hope. ^12 (L)Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^(M)and I will hear you. ^13 (N)You will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^(O)with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, ^(P)and I will restore your fortunes and ^(Q)gather you from all the nations and all the places ^(R)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 ^(S)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 ^(T)sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^(U)vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with ^(V)sword, famine, and pestilence, ^(W)and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ^(X)to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^(Y)where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ^(Z)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 ^(AA)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, ^(AB)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 (AC)Because of them ^(AD)this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, ^(AE)whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” ²³ because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, ^(AF)they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and ^(AG)they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. ^(AH)I am the one who knows, ^(AI)and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”