¹ And 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 after 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.

³ He 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,

⁴ So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have caused to be exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ Build houses and live, and plant gardens, and eat their fruit.

⁶ Take 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.

⁷ And 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.

⁸ For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God Israel: Do not let your prophets and your fortune-tellers in your midst deceive you. And do not listen to your dreams which you dream.

⁹ For they prophesy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them, says Jehovah.

¹⁰ For 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.

¹¹ For I know the purposes which I am planning for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace, and not for evil; to give you a future and a hope.

¹² Then you shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

¹³ And you shall seek and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

¹⁴ And I will be found by you, says Jehovah. And I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Jehovah. And I will bring you again into the place from which I sent you into exile, from there.

¹⁵ Because you have said, Jehovah has raised up for us prophets in Babylon,

¹⁶ for 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,

¹⁷ so says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, I am sending on them the sword, the famine, and the plague, and will make them like worthless figs which cannot be eaten from badness.

¹⁸ And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague. And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and a terror, and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations, there where I have driven them.

¹⁹ For they have not listened to My words, says Jehovah, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending; but you would not hear, says Jehovah.

²⁰ And now you hear the word of Jehovah, all you exiles whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹ So 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 deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them before your eyes.

²² And a curse shall be taken up from them for all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, May Jehovah make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,

²³ because 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, says Jehovah.

²⁴ You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

²⁵ So 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,

²⁶ Jehovah has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be officers in the house of Jehovah, over every raving man who prophesies, that you should put him into the stocks and into the torture collar.

²⁷ And now why have you not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?

²⁸ 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.

²⁹ And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰ Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹ Send 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;

³² therefore so says Jehovah, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed. There shall not be to him a man living among this people; nor shall he behold the good which I shall do for My people, says Jehovah, because he has uttered rebellion against Jehovah.