Single lesson
Jeremiah 29: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles
Jeremiah 29:1–32
Jeremiah 29 is a letter from Jeremiah in Jerusalem to people already taken to Babylon. It tells the captives how to live there, where to place their hope, and how to recognise words Yahweh did not send.
Before you teach
The passage names the captives, the messengers, and the setting for the letter. Yahweh’s message first addresses life in Babylon, then warns against false prophets, then speaks about people still in Jerusalem and against named prophets whose letters challenged Jeremiah.
Explain the central teaching of Jeremiah 29: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles, using two details from the reading. Yahweh told the exiles to settle in Babylon for the long stay, seek him there, and refuse prophets who spoke lies in his name.
Welcome: Jeremiah 29: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles
5 minIntroduce “Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles” and locate Jeremiah 29:1–32. Yahweh told the exiles to settle in Babylon for the long stay, seek him there, and refuse prophets who spoke lies in his name. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Jeremiah 29:1, Jeremiah 29:17, Jeremiah 29:32
Read and explain the passage
12 minThe passage opens by identifying this as a letter from Jeremiah the prophet. It is sent from Jerusalem to elders, priests, prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar had carried away to Babylon. The note about those who had departed from Jerusalem shows the letter addresses people already living in captivity.
The exiles must not let prophets, diviners, or dreams deceive them, because Yahweh says, “I have not sent them.” Instead, Yahweh sets a time: after seventy years for Babylon, he will visit them. Then they will call on him, pray, seek him with all their heart, and he will be found by them.
The passage then speaks concerning Shemaiah. He sent letters urging priestly action against Jeremiah and objecting to Jeremiah’s message that the captivity would be long. After his letter was read to Jeremiah, Yahweh said Shemaiah had not been sent and had made people trust in a lie, so he would be punished.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Jeremiah 29:1, Jeremiah 29:2, Jeremiah 29:3, Jeremiah 29:4, Jeremiah 29:8, Jeremiah 29:9, Jeremiah 29:10, Jeremiah 29:11, Jeremiah 29:12, Jeremiah 29:13, Jeremiah 29:14, Jeremiah 29:24, Jeremiah 29:25, Jeremiah 29:26, Jeremiah 29:28, Jeremiah 29:29, Jeremiah 29:31, Jeremiah 29:32
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “What does Yahweh tell the captives to do while they live in Babylon?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. Yahweh told the exiles to settle in Babylon for the long stay, seek him there, and refuse prophets who spoke lies in his name. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Jeremiah 29:5, Jeremiah 29:6, Jeremiah 29:7, Jeremiah 29:8, Jeremiah 29:9, Jeremiah 29:31, Jeremiah 29:10, Jeremiah 29:12, Jeremiah 29:13, Jeremiah 29:14, Jeremiah 29:21, Jeremiah 29:32
Make and respond: Vision and message evidence map
12 minWork on “Jeremiah 29: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles: Vision and message evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Jeremiah 29:1, Jeremiah 29:17, Jeremiah 29:32
Closing: return to Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles
3 minRevisit Jeremiah 29:1–32. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Jeremiah 29:1, Jeremiah 29:17, Jeremiah 29:32
Questions to explore
What does Yahweh tell the captives to do while they live in Babylon?
Gather the practical commands in the letter: home, garden, family, prayer, and the city’s peace.
Jeremiah 29:5, Jeremiah 29:6, Jeremiah 29:7
Why should the captives refuse the words of certain prophets?
Yahweh says he did not send them, and their words could lead people to trust a lie.
Jeremiah 29:8, Jeremiah 29:9, Jeremiah 29:31
How does the passage contrast Yahweh’s promise with the fate of false prophets?
Compare Yahweh’s promise of return, heard prayer, and being found after seventy years with the judgement on prophets who lied in his name.
Jeremiah 29:10, Jeremiah 29:12, Jeremiah 29:13, Jeremiah 29:14, Jeremiah 29:21, Jeremiah 29:31, Jeremiah 29:32
Make, think or respond
Jeremiah 29: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles: Vision and message evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage describes”, “What is explained in the text”, “What question remains”.
- Read Jeremiah 29:1–32. Use “Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Circle an explanation the passage itself provides. Leave unexplained details as questions for further reading.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Jeremiah 29: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Jeremiah 29:1–32. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Jeremiah 29:1–32. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Jeremiah 29
1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,
2 (after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem),
3 by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). It said:
4 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 “Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6 Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished.
7 Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”
8 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says Yahweh.
10 For Yahweh says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
12 You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.
14 I will be found by you,” says Yahweh, “and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you,” says Yahweh. “I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.”
15 Because you have said, “Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon,”
16 Yahweh says concerning the king who sits on David’s throne, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone with you into captivity,
17 Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.
18 I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
19 because they have not listened to my words,” says Yahweh, “with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,” says Yahweh.
20 Hear therefore Yahweh’s word, all you captives whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes.
22 A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;’
23 because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.
24 Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,
25 “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26 “Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is crazy and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.
27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you,
28 because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long. Build houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat their fruit?” ’ ”
29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,
31 “Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,”
32 therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell among this people. He won’t see the good that I will do to my people,” says Yahweh, “because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.” ’ ”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.
Source passages
Something to make together
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