Jeremiah's letter to the people of Judah who were in Babylon
1The prophet Jeremiah was in Jerusalem and he wrote a letter to the leaders of the people of Judah in Babylon, and to the priests and to all the people that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon. He wrote this letter to everyone who was still_alive. 2This happened when King Jehoiachin and his mother had to go to Babylon, and everyone who worked in the palace of the king went with them. He also wrote it to the officials of Judah and Jerusalem and to the artisans and other people who could do beautiful work with their hands. 3King Zedekiah sent Elasah, son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, son of Hilkiah, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and Jeremiah sent his letter with them.
4Jeremiah wrote: ‘The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: “Tell everyone whom I have sent away to Babylon: 5You must build houses and make gardens and eat fruit and vegetables. 6You must marry and have children and you must let your children marry so that they can have children. The number of your people must become more, and the nation must not become smaller. 7And you must help the city where I have sent you. You must also pray for the people of that city, because if good things happen in that city, then good things will also happen to you.” 8Yes, the Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: “Do not listen to the prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you and don't listen to people who say they had dreams, 9because they bring false messages and they say that it was I who sent them, but I did not send them.”
10Yes, the Lord says: “Babylon will be strong for 70 years and after those 70 years I will be good to you again and I will do what I have promised. Then I will bring you back to Jerusalem. 11I know what I want to do with you. I want to do good things to you, not bad things. I want you to hope that the future will be good for you. 12You will ask Me to help you, and you will keep on praying to Me and I will listen to you. 13You will look for Me and you will find me because you will look for Me with all your heart. 14I will help you to find Me and I will bring good things to you again. I will call you to come back from all the nations and places where I have sent you, and I will bring you back here to the place from which I let your enemies take you away.” This is what the Lord says, 15and He says that because you have said: “The Lord has given us prophets in Babylon.”
16But the Lord says this about the king who rules on the throne of David and about all the people in this city, your own people who did not go with you to Babylon. 17The Lord who rules over all says: “I will send wars, famines and diseases to the people who are still in Jerusalem. I will make them like figs that became too bad to eat. 18I will keep on killing them with wars, famines and diseases. People of all nations on earth will become afraid when they see this city. They will use the name of this city when they want to curse other people. When they walk near the ruins of this city, they will be afraid and whistle, and they will laugh at what has happened to this city. 19This will happen because you did not listen to what I said. I kept on sending my servants, the prophets, to you, but you did not listen.” This is what the Lord says.
20And you, people in Babylon, all of you who came from Jerusalem to Babylon, you must listen to what the Lord says. 21Ahab, son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, son of Maaseiah, say the Lord has sent them, but they bring false messages to you. The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: “I will give them to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will kill them and you will see it. 22When the people of Judah who are in Babylon want to curse someone, they will say: “‘We pray that the Lord will do to you what He did to Zedekiah and Ahab whom Nebuchadnezzar burnt in a fire.”’
23This will happen because Zedekiah and Ahab did something that I hate among the Israelites. They had sex with the wives of other men and they said it was I who had sent them, but they gave false messages. I did not tell them to do it. I know what they did and I am the Witness against them.” This is what the Lord says.’
The letter of Shemaiah and Jeremiah's answer
24The Lord said to Jeremiah: ‘You must speak to Shemaiah from the town of Nehelam and tell him: 25“The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: You have sent letters to all the people in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. No one told you to do that. You wrote to Zephaniah and said that 26the Lord had chosen you to be a priest in the place of Jehoiada who was the priest. You said you had to take care of the temple and if there were any mad people who said that they were prophets, you had to put them in the wooden blocks and tie them with iron chains around their necks. 27Jeremiah comes from Anathoth and he says that he is a prophet in Jerusalem, so why didn't you arrest him? 28He wrote a letter to the people in Babylon and said they would stay there for a long time and they should build houses and live in the houses and make gardens and eat the fruit and vegetables.” ’
29The priest Zephaniah read Shemaiah's letter to the prophet Jeremiah, 30and the Lord said to Jeremiah: 31‘You must write a letter to all the people in Babylon and say: “The Lord says: Shemaiah, who comes from the town of Nehelam, said he was a prophet, but I did not send him. He made you believe that those lies could help you. 32That is why I will punish Shemaiah and his descendants. Not one of his children will keep on living with this nation. I will be good to my people again, but he will not see it.” ’
This happened because Shemaiah made the people rebel_against the Lord.
