Jeremiah 29:1

CHAPTER XXIX

This chapter contains the substance of two letters sent by the

prophet to the captives in Babylon. In the first he recommends

to them patience and composure under their present

circumstances, which were to endure for seventy years, 1-14;

in which, however, they should fare better than their brethren

who remained behind, 15-19.

But, finding little credit given to this message, on account of

the suggestions of the false prophets, Ahab the son of Kolaiah,

and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who flattered them with the

hopes of a speedy end to their captivity, he sends a second, in

which he denounces heavy judgments against those false prophets

that deceived them, 20-23;

as he did afterwards against Shemaiah the Nehelamite, who had

sent a letter of complaint against Jeremiah, in consequence of

his message, 24-32.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIX

Verse Jeremiah 29:1. Now these are the words of the letter] This transaction took place in the first or second year of Zedekiah. It appears that the prophet had been informed that the Jews who had already been carried into captivity had, through the instigations of false prophets, been led to believe that they were to be brought out of their captivity speedily. Jeremiah, fearing that this delusion might induce them to take some hasty steps, ill comporting with their present state, wrote a letter to them, which he entrusted to an embassy which Zedekiah had sent on some political concerns to Nebuchadnezzar. The letter was directed to the elders, priests, prophets, and people who had been carried away captives to Babylon.