Historic pastoral reading
God had a future for his people beyond Babylon.
Jeremiah 29:10-12
For I know the plans I have for you.
The text
WEB
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.
KJV
10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at 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, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
What kind of text
- Prophecy
- Letter to exiles
- Promise after judgment
Jeremiah sends word to people already in exile: settle in, seventy years, then return. Verse 11 sits inside that letter.
How Christians have read this
Common misuse
Graduation and coffee-cup use that drops the seventy years and the exile.
What the next verse does
Verses 12-14 tell them to call, pray, and seek.
Older commentary
Matthew Henry
Henry on Jeremiah 29:11: thoughts of peace after seventy years in Babylon, and then you shall call upon me.
Charles Spurgeon
Spurgeon would not strip this from the letter to the exiles.