Approaching studies within Jeremiah, instead of trying to follow chronologically, which is difficult with this book, for roughly the first half of the book, the first 29 chapters, we will instead only produce studies within their appropriate chapters, theming them as follows:

• Jeremiah’s Calling                     Ch.1
• Jeremiah’s Main Message        Ch.2,3,5,7,21,22
• Jeremiah’s Action Parables      Ch.13,18,19,27
• Jeremiah’s Opposition              Ch.11,12,14,18,20,26,28
• Jeremiah’s Message of Hope   Ch.3,23,24,25,29

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, and the particular theme, as with studies elsewhere, each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read on the main Bible page.

Message of Hope: 5. “Settle!” 

Jer 29:1-14

1 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 skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) ³ He 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:

⁴ This 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. ⁶ Marry 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. ⁷ Also, 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.” ⁸ Yes, 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. ⁹ They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For 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. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I 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.”

A. Find Out:

1. To whom did Jeremiah write? v.1
2. What did he instruct about settling? v.4-6
3. What did he instruct about Babylon? v.7
4. Against whom did he warn? v.8,9
5. How long would they have to wait? v.10
6. What did the Lord plan for them? v.11-14

B. Think:

1. In telling them to be positive, what was he warning them against?
2. What attitude might they have had without this word?
3. How is this a word of real hope?

C. Comment:

Jerusalem has just been taken by Nebuchadnezzar for the first time, the king and many people taken to Babylon, and Zedekiah left as king.  Soon after, the Lord’s word comes via Jeremiah to the exiles who have recently been taken.  The content was quite surprising and yet met them exactly where they were.  Many of them were perhaps hoping that this was just a temporary exile in a foreign land and that perhaps Babylon would sometime be overcome itself and they be released back to Jerusalem.  God’s word comes clearly to them: forget such thoughts!

God wants them to settle there in Babylon, flourish there and indeed seek the blessing of Babylon!  Have no thoughts of an early return for you will be there 70 years, which means you will be there for the rest of your lives!  God loves ALL His world and He made Israel to be a light to the Gentiles, whether they were in their own land or outside it!  Therefore He wants them to remember that and bless Babylon. Amazing! However, as far as Israel as a nation is concerned, there is a very real future back in the promised land that the Lord WILL ensure.  This exile is for real but the nation’s future is assured!

D. Application?

1. Do we seek the welfare of the place where we are and pray for it regularly?
2. Rest in God that He is with you as you seek Him in the place where you are for the moment.