THIS IS THE text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2(This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:
4This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.
10This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
15You may say, “The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” 16but this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your countrymen who did not go with you into exile—17yes, this is what the LORD Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like poor figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. 19For they have not listened to my words,” declares the LORD, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the LORD.
20Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. 22Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘The LORD treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ 23For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and in my name have spoken lies, which I did not tell them to do. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the LORD.
24Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 25“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, 26‘The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the LORD; you should put any madman who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. 27So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? 28He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”
29Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 31“Send this message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the LORD says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has led you to believe a lie, 32this is what the LORD says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the LORD, because he has preached rebellion against me.’”
Original Meaning
29:1–3. CHAPTER 29 IS LINKED with the previous chapter by literary proximity, historical context, and common vocabulary. As these first three verses make clear, Jeremiah writes a letter to the Judean community in Babylonian exile, that is, to those Judeans taken into exile with Jehoiachin1 in 597 B.C. Although much of the chapter is taken up with the substance of that letter, it contains references to other messages that have gone back and forth from the two communities of Judeans. Jeremiah entrusts his letter to the Judeans in Babylon to Elasah the son of Shaphan (presumably the brother of Ahikam, who had earlier kept Jeremiah from the lynch mob)2 and to Gemariah the son of Hilkiah the priest—two official Judean messengers (ambassadors?) sent by Zedekiah to Babylon on state business.
Several prophets and diviners among the Judean exiles have provoked the community with announcements of the imminent demise of Babylon and a return of the exiles to Judah (29:8–9, 15, 21–28). They are like Hananiah (ch. 28) in their orientation. Some of the agitators are named (Ahab and Zedekiah, 29:21–22; Shemaiah, 29:24), although nothing else is preserved about them beside what is contained in this chapter. Most likely they are prominent figures among the exiles. Shemaiah, for example, has communicated directly with the priest named Zephaniah, who is in charge of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem (29:25–26). These figures show awareness that Jeremiah’s prophecies are known in Babylon.
The prophet’s letter reinforces his previous prophecies that God has granted Babylon hegemony, that the duration of Babylonian sovereignty has decades to run (cf. 25:12), and that only then will there be restoration (cf. 24:6–7). What is new in chapter 29 is the instruction to settle down in Babylon and to pray for the city. The exiles are to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (29:7).3
Chapter 29 contains the same charges against the exilic prophets as was made against Hananiah in chapter 28. They cause the people to trust in a lie (28:15; 29:9, 21, 23, 31; cf. 7:4),4 and their words are, in effect, rebellion against the Lord (29:31–32; cf. 28:15–16). Jeremiah’s struggle against prophets who prophesy falsely in the Lord’s name extends even to the exilic community. The book of Ezekiel carries on this struggle to present the exilic community with God’s word.
29:4–9. The first line of the letter contains a shocking truth, but it points to the good news to follow. God is the subject of the phrase “all those I carried into exile.” Of course, the previous verses noted that Nebuchadnezzar was the historical agent who took the people into exile, but in verse 4 the theological point is made that it is actually the work of God himself. The affirmation is followed by the commands to settle down in exile and to carry out such functions of sedentary existence as building, planting, and marriage. Exile is not the end of existence as God’s people, but the beginning of a new phase of relating to God. The people are not to rebel against the authority of Babylon because, in effect, it is the authority of God over them for a prescribed time. More positively, the people are to seek the prosperity of Babylon because it will affect them as well. Most important, they are to pray for their captors.
29:10–14. These hopeful verses help prepare readers for the section that follows in the prophetic book, a section known to interpreters as the Book of Consolation. Jeremiah notes that the future of the people in exile rests on God’s “gracious promise” (v. 10; lit., God’s “good word”). In verse 11 the gracious promise is described as plans God has for the people, plans for a “prosperity” (šalom, peace) that provides a future and “hope” (tiqwa). A tangible element to the future consists in the restoration of the people to their homeland. The restoration, however, is predicated on their seeking God with their whole heart.
29:15–23. Certain prophets are agitating among the exiles in Babylon. From the message about judgment on the king and people who remain in Judah, one infers that these prophetic agitators believe no more disaster will befall Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah describes God as making King Zedekiah and the people in Jerusalem like “poor figs that … cannot be eaten” (29:17). This metaphor is the same one as given to Jeremiah in 24:1–10. Because the king in Jerusalem and his people refuse to acknowledge God’s judgment and refuse to embrace his covenant stipulations, they will be given over to the disasters of the sword and plague. The last part of this section warns the exiles not to listen to these prophetic agitators.
29:24–32. A particular opponent of Jeremiah, Shemaiah the Nehelamite, is singled out for criticism and announced judgment. He is a prophet who has proclaimed lies to the people in exile. He will not, therefore, see the “good things” that God will do for the people because he has “preached rebellion” against God (v. 32). This last element is the same charge leveled against Hananiah in 28:16.5
Bridging Contexts
GOD’S PEOPLE AS ALIENS. Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry extends even to God’s people taken into exile. While his influence was profound in the decades after the final destruction of Jerusalem (through his book!), he also communicated to the early exiles via letters during the interim between the first deportation in 597 B.C. and the demise of the city in 587/586. The book of Jeremiah exhibits concern for the exiles in a variety of ways, since a broad goal is to demonstrate that Jeremiah is a true prophet to the nations (including the exiles and Babylon itself). Thus chapter 29 finds itself in the broader context of prophetic texts from Isaiah and Ezekiel that address the city-state of Babylon and the Judean exiles there.
This chapter also finds itself a part of the scriptural witness to God’s people who are addressed as pilgrims, as wandering people, even as aliens, whose true home is with the Lord. From the perspective of the New Testament, God’s people are both “at home” as members of the body of the risen Christ (regardless of their geographical location) and “in transit” as they live out their witness in this age (regardless of their geographical location).6 The exiles in Babylon have not been ejected from their place among God’s people; rather, they have been called to reconsider their place in God’s economy in light of new temporal circumstances. Here potentially is a bridge to any generation of God’s people.
Prayers for Babylon. It is helpful to see the letter of Jeremiah in the context of the New Testament letters. Paul and other apostles wrote to congregations about particular matters of the faith. From their remarks later readers can discern something of the debates of the congregations, the dynamics of their ministries, and the other voices that claimed divine inspiration.
Likewise Jeremiah writes to a specific situation in Babylon and offers faithful instruction in light of what he knows to be God’s will for the common life of the exiles. He urges prayer for the welfare of Babylon and efforts toward the care for families because there will be no quick return from exile. He assures the exiles that God has not forgotten them or become subservient to the power of Babylon. Temporal submission to Babylon is submission to the work of God, who brought them to Babylon in the first place. The exiles should ignore the self-proclaimed prophets who stir the community with their rhetoric but have not been sent by God.
With the injunction to pray for Babylon, readers encounter an Old Testament form of Jesus’ teaching (Matt. 5:43–48) to pray for one’s enemies. Jeremiah’s instruction to pray does not assume a generic prayer to be transported whole cloth from one setting in the life of God’s people to another. It assumes that God has spoken definitively about Babylon’s role in the divine economy so that his people located there should pray accordingly and live accordingly. It also assumes that the “enemy” is not simply an opponent and that the exiles are not simply victims.
In a perverse sort of way, the exiles might become comfortable thinking of themselves only as victims and the Babylonians only as the enemy. If so, the exiles would not go through the self-examination process that was necessary. If the Babylonians were only the “enemy,” then they could be blamed for all of Judah’s failures. Instead, the exiles should pray for Babylon because it is their home and because in the near future, the fate of Babylon will be the fate of the people as well. God will continue to use the enemy to instruct his people. Perhaps the people will offer some witness to the “enemy” and thereby lead to another aspect of God’s instruction—to be a light to the nations (Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 51:4).
God’s plans. In a justly famous “reminder” the prophet writes that God knows the plans that he has for the exiles—plans for a future, for hope, and for restoration (29:11–14). The first context in which to hear these words comes in the next two chapters of Jeremiah’s book, where future hope and restoration in the Promised Land are given fuller expression. The same kind of confidence in God’s saving purposes is available to any generation of his people who, as Jeremiah writes, seek him “with all [their] heart” (29:13).
Contemporary Significance
TO PRAY OR NOT TO PRAY? If that is the question for Christians, then the book of Jeremiah offers some surprising answers. On occasion Jeremiah is enjoined by the Lord not to pray for his people because they are intransigent and for the moment irredeemable (7:16; 11:14; 14:11). This somber communication is not, of course, for Jeremiah’s private consumption; instead, this word of the Lord becomes part of his public proclamation, designed to shock and to evoke change. The people’s time is up and the consequences of failure will be severe. But what about the enemy? Surely God’s people should pray for the defeat of their enemies, shouldn’t they? Otherwise, they themselves will be overtaken. “Not so this time,” says Jeremiah about Babylon.
There are some surprising things to be learned from and experienced through prayer. Such is the rich testimony of Scripture and saints alike. As a general rule, communities and individuals who do not regularly pray indicate by this that they do not have an adequate theology. The command for Jeremiah not to pray is thus a special case and comes as a radical illustration of the spiritual deadness of the people. Fervent prayer means confidence in God and an openness to his surprising leading. Prayer is a form of applied theology. The issue here is not belief in God, but communion with God through prayer. The devil and his assistants do not pray to God, but they believe in his existence.
Prayer is not for the benefit of God, although both praise and petition belong in a relationship with God. Prayer changes both the perceptions of those who pray and their actions. Surely this is the case in ancient Babylon. As Judeans pray for the welfare of the city, God’s people will learn that no one is only an enemy. In the case of Babylon, their doom is sure to come, but in a radical way God has bound the fortunes of his people with their enemy. There is something profound at work in such circumstances. What comes with clarity in the gospel is already adumbrated in the Old Testament. Through prayer one can look at opponents or problems as more than someone or something to be overcome. They can become also a means of education and sanctification, the agents through whom one finds growth in relationship with God.
Praying for peace. “Their peace is your peace.” Certainly the tremendous changes in relations between East and West—the end of the so-called “cold war”—is an illustration of this truth. The fall of the Iron Curtain and the dissolution of the Soviet empire in the last few years has brought home to millions in the East and West that the “other” is not necessarily an enemy. Subsequently it has become clear that in the prosperity of the one lies the prosperity of the other. For Christians in both East and West this truth hits home with particular force. As former enemies now seek a better coexistence, Christians on both sides can see that God has done more than instruct them about an enemy—there is now a foundation for a new community of faith. Praying for the “other” has changed those who pray as surely as it has affected the “other.”
How many tensions would be alleviated, how many problems set on the road to solution, if Christians would pray for the welfare of their opponents? Prayer for an opponent does not forbid action that may keep each other in relational tension. It does not guarantee a solution. But since prayer is applied theology, it will change one’s attitude toward opponents.
Prayer is the bedrock of confidence in God. It was in Jeremiah’s day, and it remains a key to seeking God with all one’s heart. God’s promises are freely given, but not all of them can be freely accepted—that is, they have little relevancy to an indifferent people. For those in dire straits, it should come as good news that God knows the future and is committed to the redemption of his people. “Seek and you will find” (Matt. 7:7) is the Lord’s gracious command, not “resign and do nothing.”
Interspersed in the scriptural word of Jeremiah 29 are indications of particular judgment on individuals. It is important for Christians to remember that judgment is God’s affair. Jeremiah does not take judgment into his own hands, nor does he urge others to do so. He simply notes that the work of people like Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah is opposed to the purposes of God and that God will deal with them.