Keep Calm and Carry On
- This chapter records a letter that Jeremiah sent to the priests and prophets who've already been exiled to Babylon: King Coniah, the queen mother, the royal officials, the artisans and smiths.
- (It was sent by a guy named Elasah, for the record).
- Basically, it tells everyone to keep trying to lead a normal life—build houses, plant and eat from gardens, have your sons and daughters get married, replace your smoke detector batteries, etc.
- They should try to help make Babylon a nice place. God wants them to benefit themselves by making Babylon better.
- They shouldn't listen to the false prophets who are still hanging around.
- When seventy years are up, God will release the people and send them home.
- However, the people who didn't go into exile are going to deal with calamity and death. War, disease, and famine are coming for them any minute.
- Because they didn't obey their true prophets and change their ways, they'll be destroyed.
- Nebuchadnezzar will kill the false prophets, Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, in front of the people.
- A prophet named Shemaiah son of Nehelam sent a letter to Zephaniah the priest, asking him why he hasn't punished Jeremiah for spouting insane prophecies in the temple.
- Zephaniah reads the letter to Jeremiah, and then the word of God comes to Jeremiah.
- It tells him to write to the exiles, telling them that Shemaiah prophesied falsely to them and made them believe lies.
- God will punish Shemaiah by making sure that none of his descendants will live to see the end of the exile and the restoration of Judah.