Jeremiah 23:13-29:10

English Standard Version

¹³In the prophets of ^(A)Samaria
    ^(B)I saw an unsavory thing:
^(C)they prophesied by Baal
    ^(D)and led my people Israel astray.
¹⁴But in the prophets of Jerusalem
    I have seen a horrible thing:
^(E)they commit adultery and walk in lies;
    ^(F)they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
    so that no one turns from his evil;
^(G)all of them have become like Sodom to me,
    ^(H)and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^(I)“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
    ^(J)and give them ^(K)poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
    ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^(L)filling you with vain hopes. ^(M)They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^(N)‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^(O)stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^(P)‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

¹⁸For ^(Q)who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
    to see and to hear his word,
    or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
¹⁹^(R)Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
^(S)a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰^(T)The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and ^(U)accomplished
    the intents of his heart.
^(V)In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹^(W)“I did not send the prophets,
    yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
    yet they prophesied.
²²^(X)But if they had stood in my council,
    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^(Y)and they would have turned them from their evil way,
    and ^(Z)from the evil of their deeds.

²³^(AA)“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴^(AB)Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^(AC)Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said ^(AD)who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^(AE)‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^(AF)the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who think to make my people forget my name ^(AG)by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^(AH)fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸^(AI)Let the prophet who has a dream ^(AJ)tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^(AK)What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ²⁹^(AL)Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^(AM)like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰^(AN)Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^(AO)lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^(AP)I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

³³^(AQ)“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,^[a] and ^(AR)I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ ³⁴And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^(AS)I will punish that man and his household. ³⁵Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and ^(AT)you pervert the words of ^(AU)the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” ³⁹therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up^[b] and ^(AV)cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. ⁴⁰^(AW)And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^(AX)perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

24 ^(AY)After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem ^(AZ)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with ^(BA)the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, ^(BB)two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. ²One basket had very good figs, ^(BC)like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^(BD)very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. ³And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁵“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ^(BE)whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶^(BF)I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ^(BG)I will build them up, and not tear them down; ^(BH)I will plant them, and not pluck them up. ⁷^(BI)I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, ^(BJ)and they shall be my people ^(BK)and I will be their God, ^(BL)for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

⁸“But thus says the Lord: Like ^(BM)the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^(BN)Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^(BO)dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹I will make them ^(BP)a horror^[c] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^(BQ)a reproach, ^(BR)a byword, ^(BS)a taunt, and ^(BT)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰And I will send ^(BU)sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Seventy Years of Captivity

25 ^(BV)The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ³“For twenty-three years, ^(BW)from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken ^(BX)persistently to you, ^(BY)but you have not listened. ⁴^(BZ)You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^(CA)persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, ⁵saying, ^(CB)‘Turn now, every one of you, ^(CC)from his evil way and evil deeds, and ^(CD)dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. ⁶^(CE)Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, ^(CF)or provoke me to anger ^(CG)with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ ⁷^(CH)Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, ^(CI)that you might provoke me to anger ^(CJ)with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹^(CK)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(CL)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^(CM)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰Moreover, ^(CN)I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(CO)the grinding of the millstones and ^(CP)the light of the lamp. ¹¹^(CQ)This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^(CR)these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^(CS)seventy years. ¹²Then after ^(CT)seventy years are completed, ^(CU)I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^(CV)the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^(CW)making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^(CX)in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴^(CY)For many nations ^(CZ)and great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^(DA)and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord's Wrath

¹⁵Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^(DB)“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^(DC)the sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, ^(DD)and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: ¹⁸^(DE)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, ^(DF)to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; ¹⁹^(DG)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, ²⁰and ^(DH)all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of ^(DI)the land of Uz and all the kings of ^(DJ)the land of the Philistines (^(DK)Ashkelon, ^(DL)Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ^(DM)Ashdod); ²¹^(DN)Edom, ^(DO)Moab, and the sons of ^(DP)Ammon; ²²all the kings of ^(DQ)Tyre, all the kings of ^(DR)Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across ^(DS)the sea; ²³^(DT)Dedan, ^(DU)Tema, ^(DV)Buz, and all who cut ^(DW)the corners of their hair; ²⁴all the ^(DX)kings of Arabia and all the kings of ^(DY)the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; ²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(DZ)Elam, and all the kings of ^(EA)Media; ²⁶all the kings of ^(EB)the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of ^(EC)Babylon^[d] shall drink.

²⁷“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(ED)Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ^(EE)the sword that I am sending among you.’

²⁸“And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(EF)You must drink! ²⁹For behold, ^(EG)I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^(EH)for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰“You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

^(EI)“‘The Lord will roar from on high,
    and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
    ^(EJ)and shout, like those who tread grapes,
    against all the inhabitants of the earth.
³¹The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
    for ^(EK)the Lord has an indictment against the nations;
^(EL)he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
    and the wicked he will put to the sword,
declares the Lord.’

³²“Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Behold, disaster is going forth
from nation to nation,
^(EM)and a great tempest is stirring
^(EN)from the farthest parts of the earth!

³³^(EO)“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. ^(EP)They shall not be lamented, ^(EQ)or gathered, or buried; ^(ER)they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

³⁴^(ES)“Wail, ^(ET)you shepherds, and cry out,
    ^(EU)and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,
    and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
³⁵No refuge will remain ^(EV)for the shepherds,
    nor escape for the lords of the flock.
³⁶A voice—the cry ^(EW)of the shepherds,
    ^(EX)and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For the Lord is laying waste their pasture,
³⁷    ^(EY)and the peaceful folds are devastated
    ^(EZ)because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
³⁸Like a lion ^(FA)he has left his lair,
    for their land has become a waste
because of ^(FB)the sword of the oppressor,
    ^(FC)and because of his fierce anger.”

Jeremiah Threatened with Death

26 ^(FD)In the beginning of the reign of ^(FE)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: ²“Thus says the Lord: ^(FF)Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord ^(FG)all the words that I command you to speak to them; ^(FH)do not hold back a word. ³^(FI)It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, ^(FJ)that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them ^(FK)because of their evil deeds. ⁴You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(FL)If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, ⁵^(FM)and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you ^(FN)urgently, ^(FO)though you have not listened, ⁶then I will make this house ^(FP)like Shiloh, and I will make this city ^(FQ)a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

⁷^(FR)The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then ^(FS)the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! ⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be ^(FT)like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, ^(FU)without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰When ^(FV)the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the ^(FW)entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. ¹¹Then ^(FX)the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, ^(FY)“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. ¹³Now therefore ^(FZ)mend your ways and your deeds, ^(GA)and obey the voice of the Lord your God, ^(GB)and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. ¹⁴^(GC)But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. ¹⁵Only know for certain that if you put me to death, ^(GD)you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Jeremiah Spared from Death

¹⁶^(GE)Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, ^(GF)“This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” ¹⁷^(GG)And certain of ^(GH)the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, ¹⁸“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,

^(GI)“‘Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? ^(GJ)Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, ^(GK)and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? ^(GL)But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”

²⁰There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from ^(GM)Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. ²¹And when ^(GN)King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. ²²Then ^(GO)King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, ^(GP)Elnathan the son of ^(GQ)Achbor and others with him, ²³and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, ^(GR)who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴But the hand of ^(GS)Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.

The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar

27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah^[e] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ²Thus the Lord said to me: ^(GT)“Make yourself straps and ^(GU)yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³Send word^[f] to the king of ^(GV)Edom, the king of ^(GW)Moab, the king of the sons of ^(GX)Ammon, the king of ^(GY)Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵“It is I who ^(GZ)by my great power and my outstretched arm ^(HA)have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, ^(HB)and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. ⁶^(HC)Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ^(HD)my servant, ^(HE)and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. ⁷^(HF)All the nations shall serve him and ^(HG)his son and ^(HH)his grandson, ^(HI)until the time of his own land comes. ^(HJ)Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

⁸“‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(HK)and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation ^(HL)with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. ⁹So ^(HM)do not listen to your ^(HN)prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your ^(HO)fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ ¹⁰^(HP)For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ¹¹^(HQ)But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.”’”

¹²To ^(HR)Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: ^(HS)“Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and ^(HT)serve him and his people and live. ¹³^(HU)Why will you and your people die ^(HV)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(HW)as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴^(HX)Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ ^(HY)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ¹⁵I have not sent them, declares the Lord, but ^(HZ)they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ^(IA)Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ^(IB)‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ ^(IC)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ¹⁷^(ID)Do not listen to them; ^(IE)serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city ^(IF)become a desolation? ¹⁸If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then ^(IG)let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, ^(IH)that the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ¹⁹^(II)For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, ^(IJ)when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(IK)concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ²²^(IL)They shall be carried to Babylon ^(IM)and remain there ^(IN)until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord. ^(IO)Then I will bring them back ^(IP)and restore them to this place.”

Hananiah the False Prophet

28 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of ^(IQ)Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of ^(IR)Azzur, the prophet from ^(IS)Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, ²“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(IT)I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³^(IU)Within ^(IV)two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴I will also bring back to this place ^(IW)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, ^(IX)for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, ⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^(IY)“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. ⁷Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ⁸^(IZ)The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹^(JA)As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

¹⁰Then the prophet Hananiah took the ^(JB)yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. ¹¹And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ^(JC)“Thus says the Lord: ^(JD)Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of ^(JE)all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹²Sometime after the prophet ^(JF)Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³“Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. ¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations ^(JG)an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(JH)and they shall serve him, ^(JI)for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” ¹⁵And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, ^(JJ)the Lord has not sent you, ^(JK)and you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, ^(JL)because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁷In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles

29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to ^(JM)the surviving elders of the exiles, and to ^(JN)the priests, ^(JO)the prophets, and ^(JP)all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²This was after ^(JQ)King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. ³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of ^(JR)Shaphan and Gemariah the son of ^(JS)Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 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^(JT)Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶Take 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. ⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^(JU)pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(JV)Do not let your prophets and ^(JW)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^[g] ⁹for ^(JX)it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^(JY)I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰“For thus says the Lord: ^(JZ)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(KA)I will visit you, ^(KB)and I will fulfill to you my promise ^(KC)and bring you back to this place.