Jeremiah 29:20

THE MESSAGE

"And you—you exiles whom I sent out of Jerusalem to Babylon—listen to God 's Message to you. As far as Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah are concerned, the ‘Babylonian specialists' who are preaching lies in my name, I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will kill them while you watch. The exiles from Judah will take what they see at the execution and use it as a curse: ‘ God fry you to a crisp like the king of Babylon fried Zedekiah and Ahab in the fire!' Those two men, sex predators and prophet-impostors, got what they deserved. They pulled every woman they got their hands on into bed—their neighbors' wives, no less—and preached lies claiming it was my Message. I never sent those men. I've never had anything to do with them." God 's Decree. "They won't get away with a thing. I've witnessed it all."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Hebrew Names Version
Hear you therefore the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Yerushalayim to Bavel.

King James Version
Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord , all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:

English Standard Version
Hear the word of the Lord , all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

New American Standard Bible
'You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

New Century Version
You captives, whom I forced to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon, listen to the message from the Lord .

Amplified Bible
"Hear, therefore, the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

World English Bible
Hear you therefore the word of Yahweh, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Heare ye therefore the word of the Lord all ye of the captiuitie, whome I haue sent from Ierusalem to Babel.

Legacy Standard Bible
You, therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Berean Standard Bible
So hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Contemporary English Version
I had you taken from Jerusalem to Babylonia. But you had better listen to me now.

Complete Jewish Bible
"So pay attention now to the word of Adonai , all of you in exile, whom I sent away from Yerushalayim to Bavel.

Darby Translation
But ye, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of Jehovah.

Easy-to-Read Version
"You people are captives. I forced you to leave Jerusalem and go to Babylon. So listen to the message from the Lord ."

George Lamsa Translation
Hear therefore the word of the LORD, all you exiles who were carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;

Good News Translation
All of you whom I sent into exile in Babylonia, listen to what I, the Lord , say.'

Lexham English Bible
And you, hear the word of Yahweh, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Literal Translation
And now you hear the Word of Jehovah, all you exiles whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Heare therfore the worde of the LORDE, all ye presoners, whom I sent from Ierusale vnto Babilon:

American Standard Version
Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Bible in Basic English
And now, give ear to the word of the Lord, all you whom I have sent away prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

King James Version (1611)
Heare yee therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captiuitie, whom I haue sent from Ierusalem to Babylon.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Heare therfore the worde of the Lord all ye prisoners whom I sent from Hierusalem to Babylon.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he has framed against Idumea; and his device, which he has devised against the inhabitants of Thaeman: surely the least of the sheep shall be swept off; surely their dwelling shall be made desolate for them.

English Revised Version
Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor al the passyng ouer, which Y sente out fro Jerusalem in to Babiloyne, here ye the word of the Lord.

Update Bible Version
Hear therefore the word of Yahweh, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Webster's Bible Translation
Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:

New English Translation
‘So pay attention to what I, the Lord , have said, all you exiles whom I have sent to Babylon from Jerusalem.'

New King James Version
Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

New Living Translation
Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord , all you captives there in Babylon.

New Life Bible
So hear the Word of the Lord, all you people who have been sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

New Revised Standard
But now, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of the Lord :

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Ye, therefore, hear ye the word of Yahweh, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Revised Standard Version
Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Young's Literal Translation
`And ye, hear ye a word of Jehovah, all ye of the captivity that I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵"But for right now, because you've taken up with these newfangled prophets who set themselves up as ‘Babylonian specialists,' spreading the word ‘ God sent them just for us!' God is setting the record straight: As for the king still sitting on David's throne and all the people left in Jerusalem who didn't go into exile with you, they're facing bad times. God -of-the-Angel-Armies says, ‘Watch this! Catastrophe is on the way: war, hunger, disease! They're a barrel of rotten apples. I'll rid the country of them through war and hunger and disease. The whole world is going to hold its nose at the smell, shut its eyes at the horrible sight. They'll end up in slum ghettos because they wouldn't listen to a thing I said when I sent my servant-prophets preaching tirelessly and urgently. No, they wouldn't listen to a word I said.'" God 's Decree. ²⁰"And you—you exiles whom I sent out of Jerusalem to Babylon—listen to God 's Message to you. As far as Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah are concerned, the ‘Babylonian specialists' who are preaching lies in my name, I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will kill them while you watch. The exiles from Judah will take what they see at the execution and use it as a curse: ‘ God fry you to a crisp like the king of Babylon fried Zedekiah and Ahab in the fire!' Those two men, sex predators and prophet-impostors, got what they deserved. They pulled every woman they got their hands on into bed—their neighbors' wives, no less—and preached lies claiming it was my Message. I never sent those men. I've never had anything to do with them." God 's Decree. "They won't get away with a thing. I've witnessed it all."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

hear: Dr. Blayney thinks there were two letters written by the prophet to the captives in Babylon, and the first ends with this verse. That having heard, on the return of the embassy, that the captives had received his advice favourably, and because they were deceived by false prophets, who promised them a speedier deliverance, he therefore wrote a second letter, beginning with the Jeremiah 29:15, and going on with the twenty-first, etc. - in which order these verses are read in the Septuagint in which he denounces God's judgments on the three chief of those, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah.

all ye: Ezekiel 3:11, Ezekiel 3:15

whom: Jeremiah 24:5, Micah 4:10

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 22:19 - Hear thou Jeremiah 14:15 - Sword and famine shall not Jeremiah 22:2 - Hear Jeremiah 29:31 - Send Ezekiel 13:2 - Hear Malachi 2:9 - before

Cross-References

Genesis 29:6
"Are things well with him?" Jacob continued. "Very well," they said. "And here is his daughter Rachel coming with the flock."

Genesis 29:7
Jacob said, "There's a lot of daylight still left; it isn't time to round up the sheep yet, is it? So why not water the flocks and go back to grazing?"

Hosea 12:12
Are you going to repeat the life of your ancestor Jacob? He ran off guilty to Aram, Then sold his soul to get ahead, and made it big through treachery and deceit. Your real identity is formed through God-sent prophets, who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors. As it is, Ephraim has continually and inexcusably insulted God. Now he has to pay for his life-destroying ways. His Master will do to him what he has done.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord,.... What he was now about to say concerning their false prophets:

all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon; all that were carried captive along with Jeconiah. Some parts of this letter are directed to one sort of the captives, and others to another sort of them; some being good men, some bad; but what follows all are called upon to observe, good and bad; it being a prediction of a certain event, which they would see fulfilled in a short time; and therefore might be of service of them; to the godly, for the confirmation of them in the belief of what the Lord had promised; and to the rest, to make them stop giving heed to false prophets, that should here after arise.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These verses are not in the Septuagint. But the text of the Septuagint is here throughout so brief and confused as to be explicable only on the supposition, that it represents what was left behind in Egypt when Jeremiah died, copied probably with extreme haste, and with no opportunity of careful collation afterward. On the other hand the Hebrew text represents no hurried transcript, but the original manuscript, and is especially trustworthy in the case of these letters sent to Babylon (see also Jeremiah 51:0), because the originals of them would be available for collation with the text preserved by Jeremiah himself. The verses were probably intended to allay excitement in Babylon consequent upon the knowledge that the representatives of various kings were assembled at that very time at Jerusalem to form a coalition against Babylon Jeremiah 27:3.

Jeremiah 29:17

Vile - The word does not occur elsewhere, but comes from a root signifying to shudder, and thus has an intense meaning.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 29:20. Hear ye therefore the word — Dr. Blayney thinks there were two letters written by the prophet to the captives in Babylon, and that the first ends with this verse. That having heard, on the return of the embassy (Elasah and Gemariah, whom Zedekiah had sent to Babylon, and to whom the prophet entrusted the above letter, Jeremiah 29:3,) that the captives had not received his advises favourably, because they were deceived by false prophets among them, who promised them a speedier deliverance, he therefore wrote a second letter, beginning with the fifteenth verse, and going on with the twenty-first, &c., in which he denounces God's judgments on three of the chief of those, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah.