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One-sentence summary: Jeremiah prophesies that Israel and all nations will serve Babylon and confronts false prophets; the Lord promises to visit His people after 70 years and bring them back to their own land and give them a future and hope.
The Lord tells Jeremiah to stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah who come to worship in His house. He says perhaps everyone will listen and turn from their evil says so He can relent from the calamity He has purposed to bring. The Lord says if they will not listen to His words and heed His servants the prophets, He will make His house like Shiloh and the city a curse to all the nations. After Jeremiah finishes speaking, the priests and prophets and all the people sieze him and tell him he will surely die. They ask him why he has prophesied thus. When the princes of Judah hear, they come from the king's house to the house of the Lord and sit in the entryway. The priests and prophets speak to them and all the people and say that Jeremiah deserves to die for prophesying against the city. Jeremiah tells them the Lord send him to prophesy against the house and the city, and he tells them to amend their ways and doings and obey the Lord's voice so that He will relent from the doom He has pronounced against them. He tells them to do with him what they want, but if they put him to death, they will bring innocent blood on themselves, since the Lord has sent him. The princes say that he does not deserve to die, because he has spoken in the name of the Lord. Some elders of the land speak to the people and remind them how other prophets prophesied doom and gloom, but the kings did not put him to death and instead sought the Lord's favor, and how the Lord relented. He says they, in contrast, are doing evil. They also say there was another man who prophesied against the land, and Jehoiakim sought to put him to death, so the prophet fled to Egypt; then, the king sent men to Egypt, bringing him down to the king who killed him with the sword and cast his body in the graves of the common people. In the end, Jeremiah is not given over to the people.
The word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah and tells him to tell the people to send messengers with yokes around their necks to certain kings of the nations. The messengers are to say that the Lord has made the earth and all the animals and has given the lands to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon- His servant- along with the beasts, to serve him, and all nations. Also, his son, son's son, and all nations will serve him. If not, they will be punished and utterly consumed. The Lord says not to listen to the prophets, soothsayers, or sorcerers who say it will not happen, because they are lying. The Lord says He will drive them out, but whoever serves Babylon will remain in their own land. Jeremiah speaks to Jedekiah of Judah and tells him to serve the king of Babylon so they may live and not die by sword, famine, and pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nations who refuse. Jeremiah speaks to the priests and tells them not to listen to the prophets who lie. However, the true prophets are to intercede so that the vessels left in the house of the Lord do not go to Babylon.
A son of a prophet speaks to Jeremiah in the presence of the priests and all the people and says the Lord says He has broken the yoke of the king of Babylon and that in two years He will bring back the Lord's vessels that were carried away, along with Jehoiakim's son and all the captives of Babylon. Jeremiah speaks to him in the house of the Lord before all and says, "Amen." He says may the Lord perform all the words he has prophesied, yet he says that he also has a word. He says that prophets in the past prophesied against many kingdoms. He says that those who prophesy peace, if it comes to pass, it will be said that man is a true prophet. The other prophet takes the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and says it is how the Lord will break the yoke of Babylon off within two years. After this, the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah, and He tells him to go and tell Hananiah that he has broken yokes of wood but made yokes of iron in their place. He says He has put a yoke of iron on all the nations to serve the king of Babylon, along with the beasts of the field. So Jeremiah tells Hananiah he is a false prophet, deceiving the people, and tells him the Lord will kill him that year for teaching the people rebellion, and he dies that same year.
Jeremiah sends a letter from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive to Jerusalem. In it, he says the Lord says to them all to build houses and dwell in them and to plant gardens and eat and takes wives and bear children. He tells them to seek the peace of the city where the Lord has caused them to be carried away captive and to pray for it, for "in its peace [they] will have peace." He tells them not to let the prophets deceive them. He says that after 70 years, the Lord will visit them and perform His word to them and cause them to return. The Lord says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you... thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you, and you will seek Me and find me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, and I will bring you back from your captivity." He says those who have stayed behind will fall by the sword, famine, and the pestilence, since they have not listened to the prophets. The Lord says that He will deliver the lying prophets Zedekiah and Ahab into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar who will slay them. He tells Jeremiah to speak to another man who has sent letters in His name to the people in Jerusalem and the priests saying that the Lord has made other men priests who are really not and to rebuke Jeremiah for saying the captivity will be long. So Zephaniah the priest reads it in the hearing of Jeremiah, and the Lord tells Jeremiah to send to all in captivity with His word saying of Shemaiah who has prophesied falsely that he will be punished along with his family and will not see the good the Lord does to His people, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most comforting passages of scripture. His thoughts toward you are good, to prosper you and to give you a future and a hope!