Jeremiah 29

Jeremiah writes from Jerusalem to the Jews already exiled in Babylon. God tells them to settle in, live ordinary lives, and pray for the city, because the exile will last seventy years. He promises a future and a hope after that, and warns against prophets who say it will end soon. The chapter closes with judgment on false prophets and on Shemaiah, who tried to silence Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:1-3

Jeremiah sends a letter to the first group of exiles, taken to Babylon in 597 BC. It goes with royal envoys, Elasah and Gemariah, whom Zedekiah was sending to Nebuchadnezzar. God’s word reaches His people even in a foreign land, carried by ordinary messengers.

BSA: exiles (“those carried into captivity”): These were people forcibly removed from home, so God’s message meets them in their loss.

See also: 2 Kings 24:12-16.

Jeremiah 29:4

The letter begins with God’s own authority: the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel. He says plainly that He is the One who carried them away. The exile is not an accident of Babylonian power. God is still speaking to His people, and still their God.

BSA: Hosts (“army, a large group of people or things”): The God who commands heaven’s armies is the One who speaks to a defeated people.

Jeremiah 29:5-6

Instead of packing to leave, the exiles are to build, plant, marry, and raise families. God asks for ordinary life, lived faithfully, in a place they did not choose. The command to multiply echoes God’s first blessing, and shows that He intends His people to survive and grow.

BSA: settle down (“dwell, reside”): They are told to live there as residents, not as people just passing through. Multiply (“to increase, grow”): God’s people will not dwindle in exile but grow, ready for the return.

See also: Genesis 1:28.

Jeremiah 29:7

God asks the exiles to seek the good of Babylon, the very city that conquered them, and to pray for it. Their own welfare is tied to its welfare. Believers living among people who do not share their faith have always found guidance here.

BSA: prosperity (“peace, wellness, completeness”): This is the rich Hebrew idea of shalom: wholeness and well-being, not just money. Pray (“intercede, make petition”): They are to stand before God on behalf of their captors.

Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם (shalom, H7965) — “peace, wholeness, well-being.” The same word is translated both ‘prosperity’ and ‘prosper’ in this verse. God ties the exiles’ peace to the peace of the city around them.

See also: 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

Jeremiah 29:8-9

Prophets and diviners among the exiles were promising a quick return, and the people were eager to hear it. God warns that these men speak lies in His name. A message that flatters what people already hope is not therefore from God.

BSA: dreams (“ordinary or prophetic visions”): Dreams alone prove nothing; they must be tested against what God has actually said. name (“My identity, character, and authority”): Using God’s name falsely borrows His authority for words He never gave.

See also: Jeremiah 23:25-32; Deuteronomy 18:20.

Jeremiah 29:10

God now gives the real timetable: seventy years for Babylon, and then He will act. The promise is that He will keep His good word and bring them home. It is a long wait, so the hope is for the next generation as much as for those who first heard it.

BSA: attend (“visit and care for you”): God’s coming is pictured as a caring visit, in which He steps in to rescue.

Hebrew: אֶפְקֹד (ʾefqod, H6485) — “I will visit, attend to.” This Hebrew verb is used when God steps in personally, whether to judge or to rescue. Here He comes to rescue and fulfil His word.

See also: Jeremiah 25:11-12; Daniel 9:2.

Jeremiah 29:11

This much-loved verse was first spoken to exiles who would wait decades. It shows God’s heart toward His people even in discipline: His plans are for good, not ruin. The wait is real, but it is not the end of the story.

BSA: plans (“thoughts, intentions, devices”): God has thought this through in advance; His purposes are deliberate. hope (“confidence, expectation, cord of attachment”): Biblical hope is a rope fastened to God’s promise, not wishful thinking.

Hebrew: תִּקְוָה (tiqvah, H8615) — “hope, a cord.” The word also means a cord or rope, so hope is something firm to hold on to. Paired with ‘future,’ it promises an outcome worth waiting for.

See also: Romans 15:13.

Jeremiah 29:12-13

Hard times were meant to bring the people back to prayer. God promises to hear them. He also promises to be found by those who seek Him wholeheartedly. This is not a half-hearted religious habit but a turning of the whole person to God.

BSA: seek (“diligently search for, inquire about”): The seeking is earnest and persistent, like a search for something precious. heart (“innermost being, mind, and emotions”): The whole inner person, thinking, feeling, and choosing, is to be engaged.

See also: Deuteronomy 4:29; Matthew 7:7-8.

Jeremiah 29:14

God repeats the promise of return and says He Himself will gather them from every place of exile. The One who sent them away is the One who will bring them home. Even judgment is held within His larger purpose of restoration.

BSA: restore (“turn back, reverse”): Their captivity will be turned around, as though the clock of their sorrow runs backward.

Hebrew: שְׁבוּת (shevut, H7622) — “captivity, fortunes.” This word sounds like the verb ’to return’ in Hebrew. The promise plays on it: God will turn their captivity around.

See also: Ezra 1:1-3.

Jeremiah 29:15-16

The exiles claimed that God had raised up prophets for them in Babylon, and those prophets promised a quick return. God answers by turning to the king and people still in Jerusalem. Neither group could expect an easy deliverance.

See also: Jeremiah 28:1-4.

Jeremiah 29:17-18

Those left in Jerusalem thought they were the safe, favored ones. God says sword, famine, and plague are coming for them, and that they will become rotten figs, a picture of worthlessness. They will be a byword for disaster among the nations.

BSA: rotten (“vile, disgusting”): The figs are so spoiled that nobody could stand to eat them, which pictures how far the people had fallen.

See also: Jeremiah 24:1-10.

Jeremiah 29:19

The reason for judgment is stated plainly: they would not listen. God had sent prophets patiently, over and over. The exiles are included in the charge, so being in Babylon does not automatically make anyone right with God.

BSA: again and again (“repeatedly, rising early and sending”): God is pictured as an eager sender who rises early to speak to His people.

Hebrew: הַשְׁכֵּם (hashkem, H7925) — “rising early.” The Hebrew literally speaks of ‘rising early’ to send the prophets. It shows God’s persistent, earnest concern for a people who kept refusing.

Jeremiah 29:20

Jeremiah turns directly to the exiles. The word translated ‘hear’ means to listen and then act. God has just said the exiles had not listened, and He now calls them to do so.

BSA: hear (“listen and obey”): In the Bible, true hearing includes doing what is heard.

Jeremiah 29:21-22

Two false prophets in Babylon, Ahab and Zedekiah, were speaking lies in God’s name. God will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar, who will execute them by fire. Their fate became a curse-saying among the exiles. Misusing God’s name for false hope brings serious consequences.

BSA: name (“My character, reputation”): Speaking falsely in God’s name misrepresents who He is. roasted (“to roast, to parch”): The word is vivid and grim, showing how terrible their end was.

See also: Deuteronomy 18:20.

Jeremiah 29:23

Their lies were joined to adultery with their neighbors’ wives. False teaching and immoral living often go together. God does not miss any of it: He knows, and He is a witness. Nothing done in secret is unseen by Him.

BSA: outrage (“villainy, folly”): In Hebrew thinking, such sin is a moral foolishness that rejects God’s ways and wrecks the community.

Hebrew: נְבָלָה (nevalah, H5039) — “outrage, disgraceful folly.” This word describes shameful folly that tears at the fabric of God’s people. It pictures sin as moral stupidity as well as wickedness.

Jeremiah 29:24-25

Now God deals with Shemaiah, a man in Babylon who had sent letters in his own name to Jerusalem. He claimed no one’s authority but his own. The words ‘in your own name’ stand out: Shemaiah sent his letters without any commission from God.

BSA: name (“authority, identity”): Shemaiah acted on his own authority, not on God’s.

Jeremiah 29:26-27

Shemaiah urged Zephaniah, the priest in charge at the temple, to lock up any madman who acts like a prophet, and he named Jeremiah as the target. He wanted the true word silenced. Jeremiah had once been put in the stocks himself.

BSA: madman (“one who acts crazy, insane”): Shemaiah is name-calling to discredit the prophet, not answering what he said.

Hebrew: מְשֻׁגָּע (meshuggaʿ, H7696) — “madman, crazed person.” This was a scornful label for prophets that others found disturbing. It is the sort of word used to dismiss a message instead of answering it.

See also: Jeremiah 20:2.

Jeremiah 29:28

Shemaiah’s complaint quotes Jeremiah’s own advice: since the exile will be long, build and plant. What he hated was the truth that it would be lengthy. People often attack a message because it cuts against what they want to hear.

BSA: lengthy (“long, prolonged”): The word names the hard fact the false prophets would not accept.

Jeremiah 29:29

Zephaniah did not act on Shemaiah’s demand. Instead he read the letter to Jeremiah, putting the matter in front of the prophet. This short verse shows how the word of God was protected from the plot against it.

BSA: read (“called out loud, proclaimed”): The letter was read aloud, so Jeremiah heard the accusation directly.

Jeremiah 29:30-31

Jeremiah receives a fresh word from God and is to send it to all the exiles. Shemaiah has prophesied without being sent, and has led people to trust a lie. False words do harm because people build their lives on them.

BSA: trust (“have confidence, faith”): Shemaiah’s lie moved people to put their confidence in something that could not hold them up.

Jeremiah 29:32

God will punish Shemaiah and his family line, and he will not see the good that God will bring His people. The charge is that he preached rebellion against the LORD. Turning people away from God’s word is no small thing.

BSA: punish (“visit upon, oversee”): God personally steps in to deal with the matter. rebellion (“revolt, turning away”): To speak against God’s word is to lead others away from Him.

Hebrew: סָרָה (sarah, H5627) — “rebellion, turning aside.” The word means a turning aside from the right path. It is the same charge used against false prophets elsewhere in the Law and the Prophets.

See also: Deuteronomy 13:5.