1These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders who had been carried away as captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2He sent it after King Jeconiah, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths had left Jerusalem.
3He sent it by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah. Zedekiah king of Judah sent these men to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter said:
4"This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:"
5"Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit."
6"Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may have sons and daughters. Grow in number there; do not grow fewer."
7"Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away as captives, and pray to the LORD for it. For in its peace you will have peace."
8"For 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. Do not listen to your dreams, which you cause to be dreamed."
9"For they prophesy lies to you in my name. I did not send them, says the LORD."
10"For this is what the LORD says: When seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will come to you. I will keep my good word to you and bring you back to this place."
11"For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the LORD: thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you the end you expect."
12"Then you will call on me, and you will come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."
13"And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart."
14"I will be found by you, says the LORD. I will bring you back from your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive."
15"You have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.'"
16"So know this: this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David's throne, and about all the people who live in this city, your brothers who have not gone with you into captivity."
17"This is what the LORD of hosts says: Look, I will send the sword, the famine and the plague against them. I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad."
18"I will chase them with the sword, with the famine and with the plague. I will make them a thing that every kingdom on earth shudders at, a curse, a horror, something people hiss at and shame, among all the nations where I have driven them."
19"This is because they have not listened to my words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them. But you would not listen, says the LORD."
21"This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and about Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: Look, I will hand them over to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your eyes."
22"All the captives of Judah who are in Babylon will use their names as a curse, saying, 'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.'"
23"They have done shameful 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 myself know it, and I am a witness, says the LORD."
24You are also to speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and 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 at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests. You said,"
26"'The LORD has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, so that you should be officers in the house of the LORD over every man who is mad and makes himself a prophet. You should put such a man in prison and in the stocks."
27"'So why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you?"
28"'For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying: This captivity will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.'"
30Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
31"Send word to all the captives and say, 'This is what the LORD says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie."
32"'So this is what the LORD says: Look, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his children. He will not have one man left to live among this people, and he will not see the good that I will do for my people, says the LORD, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD.'"