Chapter Twenty-Nine

1–23. A letter from Jeremiah to the Judahite captives in Babylon. 24–32. Words from Jeremiah addressed to Shemaiah.

Jer 29:1-23. In the letter which Jeremiah sent to the Judahite captives who were taken away together with Jeconiah, the prophet convinced his fellow countrymen not to regard captivity as a brief punishment. No, they will have to spend a long time there. They must build themselves strong houses and plant gardens in the regions of Babylon. For them, Babylon must be a second homeland, for the welfare of which they must pray to God. Those prophets who deceive the captives with hope for speedy liberation are lying. Only this is true: that the Lord will return His people from captivity after precisely seventy years. Even the Judahites who remain in Jerusalem, for their disobedience to God, will also be taken into captivity. As for the false prophets – Ahab and Zedekiah, who were deceiving the captives – they will be executed by Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah 29:2. after King Jeconiah and the queen and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths had departed from Jerusalem, – “Eunuchs” – here this expression denotes the court officials in general and is clarified by the following expression: princes.

Jeremiah 29:3. through Elasah, son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon: The embassy sent by Zedekiah to Babylon obviously shared Jeremiah’s thinking, if it is carrying his letter with it. And the king himself at this time clearly was following Jeremiah’s counsel. He was clearly seeking to maintain good relations with Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah 29:21. Thus the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, says concerning Ahab, son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in My name: Behold, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes. Nebuchadnezzar’s anger against the false prophets is quite understandable. They, through their words, were predicting the overthrow of his power. Jer 29:24-32. A certain Shemaiah, angered by the aforementioned letter from Jeremiah, sent a letter to the Jerusalem priests in which he advised the chief overseer of the temple to place Jeremiah under guard. For this, the prophet proclaims upon Shemaiah a terrible punishment: he will have no descendants.

Jeremiah 29:29. When the priest Zephaniah read this letter aloud to the prophet Jeremiah, Zephaniah was probably of a different opinion about Jeremiah than Shemaiah was, and he acquainted the prophet with Shemaiah’s letter.

Jeremiah 29:32. Therefore thus the Lord says: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his line; not one man of his will remain among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do for My people, says the Lord; for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord. For a Judahite, the lack of offspring was the most severe punishment. Special note. The embassy to Babylon was sent by Zedekiah probably a couple of years after his accession to the throne, because in the 4th year of his reign he himself traveled to Babylon, and soon after that he entered into a coalition of Palestinian states against Babylon, and at that time he certainly would not have sent the aforementioned embassy.