1These are the words of the scroll that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders of the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon.2This was after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had departed from Jerusalem.3The letter was sent by the hand of Eleasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had dispatched to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon.4Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there and do not decrease.7Seek the welfare of the city to which I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.8For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that you yourselves dream.9They are prophesying lies to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.10For thus says the LORD: When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will attend to you and will fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.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 search for me with all your heart.14I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.15Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.'16Thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile:17Thus says the LORD of Hosts: I am about to send against them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten because of their badness.18I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.19This will happen because they have not listened to my words, declares the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened, declares the LORD.20Hear therefore the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.21Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsely to you in my name: I am about to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your eyes.22And from them a curse will be taken by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, 'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.'23They committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with their neighbors' wives and by speaking lies in my name that I did not command them; I am the one who knows and bears witness, declares the LORD.