3. I gave the letter to Elasah and Gemariah, two men that King Zedekiah of Judah was sending to Babylon to talk with Nebuchadnezzar. In the letter, I wrote
4. that the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, had said:I had you taken from Jerusalem to Babylonia. Now I tell you
5. to settle there and build houses. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them.
6. Get married and have children, then help your sons find wives and help your daughters find husbands, so they can have children as well. I want your numbers to grow, not to get smaller.
7. Pray for peace in Babylonia and work hard to make it prosperous. The more successful that nation is, the better off you will be.
24-25. The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, told me what would happen to Shemaiah, who was one of our people in Babylonia. After my letter reached Babylonia, Shemaiah wrote letters to the people of Jerusalem, including the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and the other priests. The letter to Zephaniah said:
26. After the death of Jehoiada the priest, the Lord chose you to be the priest in charge of the temple security force. You know that anyone who acts mad and pretends to be a prophet should be arrested and put in chains and iron collars.
27. Jeremiah from the town of Anathoth is pretending to be a prophet there in Jerusalem, so why haven't you punished him?
28. He even wrote a letter to the people here in Babylonia, saying we would be here a long time. He told us to build homes and to plant gardens and grow our own food.
29. When Zephaniah received Shemaiah's letter, he read it to me.
30. Then the Lord told me what to write in a second letter
31. to the people of Judah who had been taken to Babylonia. In this letter, I wrote that the Lord had said:I, the Lord, have not chosen Shemaiah to be one of my prophets, and he has misled you by telling lies in my name.
32. He has even talked you into disobeying me. So I will punish Shemaiah. He and his descendants won't live to see the good things I will do for my people. I, the Lord, have spoken.