1 And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.

2 (After Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the officials, the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem.)

3 The letter came by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah the king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

4 Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I caused to be taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

6 Take 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 multiplied there and not diminished.

7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be exiled, and pray to Jehovah for it. For in its peace you shall have peace.

8 For thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your fortune-tellers in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you dream.

9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says Jehovah.

10 For thus says Jehovah, When according to My Word seventy years have been fulfilled at Babylon, I will visit you and carry out My good Word to you, to bring you back to this place.

11 For I know the thoughts which I am planning for you, says Jehovah; thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12 Then you shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13 And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

14 And I will be found by you, says Jehovah; and I will bring you back from your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Jehovah. And I will bring you back into the place from where I caused you to be taken captive.

15 Because you have said, Jehovah has raised up prophets for us in Babylon;

16 thus says Jehovah concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brothers who have not gone out with you into captivity;

17 thus says Jehovah of Hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like overripe figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

18 And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, and will make them objects of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and a waste, and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,

19 because they have not heeded My Words, says Jehovah, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not obey, says Jehovah.

20 Therefore hear the Word of Jehovah, all you exiles, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon;

21 thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes.

22 And a curse shall be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, May Jehovah make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,

23 because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them; for I am He who knows and is a witness, says Jehovah.

24 You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,

25 Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

26 Jehovah has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be officers in the house of Jehovah over every madman who prophesies, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks.

27 Now therefore why have you not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?

28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long. Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

30 And the Word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying,

31 Send to all the captives, saying, Thus says Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he caused you to trust in a lie,

32 therefore thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed. He shall not have a man to dwell among this people; nor shall he behold the good which I shall do for My people, says Jehovah, because he has taught rebellion against Jehovah.