Jeremiah 28-29

New King James Version

Hananiah’s Falsehood and Doom

28 And ^(A)it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the ^(B)fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of ^(C)Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, ²“Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken ^(D)the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³^(E)Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(F)took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴And I will bring back to this place ^[a]Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the Lord, ⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^(G)“Amen! The Lord do so; the Lord perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the Lord’s house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place. ⁷Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: ⁸The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms—of war and disaster and pestilence. ⁹As for ^(H)the prophet who prophesies of ^(I)peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent.”

¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the ^(J)yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. ¹¹And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(K)from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’ ” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹²Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ¹³“Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.” ¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(L)“I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. ^(M)I have given him the beasts of the field also.” ’ ”

¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, but ^(N)you make this people trust in a ^(O)lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall ^(P)die, because you have taught ^(Q)rebellion against the Lord.’ ”

¹⁷So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Captives

29 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were ^(R)carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²(This happened after ^(S)Jeconiah^[b] the king, the ^(T)queen mother, the ^[c]eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) ³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of ^(U)Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. ⁷And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, ^(V)and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. ⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst ^(W)deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. ⁹For they prophesy ^(X)falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.

¹⁰For thus says the Lord: After ^(Y)seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to ^(Z)return to this place. ¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²Then you will ^(AA)call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will ^(AB)listen to you. ¹³And ^(AC)you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me ^(AD)with all your heart. ¹⁴^(AE)I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; ^(AF)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 to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

¹⁵Because you have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon”— ¹⁶^(AG)therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity— ¹⁷thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like ^(AH)rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. ¹⁸And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I ^(AI)will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be ^(AJ)a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, ¹⁹because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which ^(AK)I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord. ²⁰Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a ^(AL)lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. ²²^(AM)And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, ^(AN)whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”; ²³because ^(AO)they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I ^(AP)know, and am a witness, says the Lord.

²⁴You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, ²⁵Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, ^(AQ)to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶“The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be ^(AR)officers in the house of the Lord over every man who is ^(AS)demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should ^(AT)put him in prison and in the stocks. ²⁷Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you? ²⁸For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ”

²⁹Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: ³¹Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, ^(AU)and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a ^(AV)lie— ³²therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his ^[d]family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the Lord, ^(AW)because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.