Introduction: A Letter from Jerusalem to the Exiles in Babylon
Chapter 29 of Yirmiyahu is an epistolary chapter. Yirmiyahu the prophet remains in Jerusalem, while the cream of the city has already been exiled to Babylon during the exile of Yechanyah. He sends them a "sefer," meaning a letter (as the verse states in Megillat Esther, "and letters were sent by couriers"), bearing a difficult yet sobering message: the exile is not temporary, it will last seventy years, and therefore you must organize for a full life in Babylon. The entire chapter revolves around the struggle between Yirmiyahu's true prophecy and the soothing false prophecies of the prophets in Babylon.
Verses 1-3: To Whom the Letter Was Sent and Through Whom
וְאֵלֶּה דִּבְרֵי הַסֵּפֶר אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַח יִרְמְיָה הַנָּבִיא מִירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם אֶל־יֶתֶר זִקְנֵי הַגּוֹלָה וְאֶל־הַכֹּהֲנִים וְאֶל־הַנְּבִיאִים וְאֶל־כׇּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר הֶגְלָה נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר מִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם בָּבֶלָה׃ - "And these are the words of the letter that Yirmiyahu the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, to the kohanim, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nevuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon."
The letter is sent to the elders of the exile, to the kohanim, to the prophets, and to all the people exiled to Babylon. The exile is not yet complete: Tzidkiyahu is still reigning in Jerusalem, and a large portion of the people still dwells in the land. Yet the most prominent part has already departed.
אַחֲרֵי צֵאת יְכׇנְיָה־הַמֶּלֶךְ וְהַגְּבִירָה וְהַסָּרִיסִים שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וְהֶחָרָשׁ וְהַמַּסְגֵּר מִירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃ - "After the departure of King Yechanyah, the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem."
The king, the queen mother, the chamberlains, the ministers, as well as the craftsmen and smiths - the master artisans and the scholars among the people - had all departed. The city's elite was already gone.
בְּיַד אֶלְעָשָׂה בֶן־שָׁפָן וּגְמַרְיָה בֶּן־חִלְקִיָּה אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַח צִדְקִיָּה מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה אֶל־נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל בָּבֶלָה לֵאמֹר׃ - "By the hand of Elasah son of Shafan and Gemaryah son of Chilkiyah, whom Tzidkiyahu king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nevuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying:"
Yirmiyahu takes advantage of a diplomatic mission: Tzidkiyahu sends Elasah son of Shafan and Gemaryah son of Chilkiyah to Nevuchadnezzar, and the letter is dispatched through these emissaries. The contents of the letter are detailed from here on.
Verses 4-6: Build Houses, Take Wives, Do Not Decrease
כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְכׇל־הַגּוֹלָה אֲשֶׁר־הִגְלֵיתִי מִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם בָּבֶלָה׃ בְּנוּ בָתִּים וְשֵׁבוּ וְנִטְעוּ גַנּוֹת וְאִכְלוּ אֶת־פִּרְיָן׃ - "Thus said Hashem, Master of Legions, the God of Israel, to the entire exile whom I have exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit."
This is an explicit command from Hashem: build houses and dwell in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit. The reason: you are not about to leave Babylon anytime soon. Imagine what kind of prophecy this was in their eyes.
קְחוּ נָשִׁים וְהוֹלִידוּ בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת וּקְחוּ לִבְנֵיכֶם נָשִׁים וְאֶת־בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם תְּנוּ לַאֲנָשִׁים וְתֵלַדְנָה בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת וּרְבוּ־שָׁם וְאַל־תִּמְעָטוּ׃ - Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.
Many of the exiles believed that the exile was merely temporary and that they would be returning any minute, especially after hearing the false prophets who arose among them in Babylon. Therefore they said: We will not marry here; we will set Jerusalem above our highest joy and marry there. Nor will we marry off our children in exile; we will marry them off once we return. The prophet tells them: Do not be misled. Not only will you take wives in exile, but your sons and daughters will marry there as well, and they too will have time to bear sons and daughters while you are still in exile. Do not withhold yourselves from procreation due to the mistaken thought that you are about to return.
What is more, if you send your children to marry in the Land of Israel, know that their end will be like the end of those dwelling in the land. And what will be their end? Those in the Land are destined to be exiled, as Yirmiyahu constantly proclaims: if they rebel against the king of Babylon they will be exiled, and sword, famine, pestilence, and death will come upon them. Therefore do not make such a mistake: establish yourselves right where you are, for the exile is still long.
Verse 7: Pray for the Peace of the Government
וְדִרְשׁוּ אֶת־שְׁלוֹם הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר הִגְלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה וְהִתְפַּלְלוּ בַעֲדָהּ אֶל־יְהֹוָה כִּי בִשְׁלוֹמָהּ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שָׁלוֹם׃ - And seek the peace of the city where I have exiled you, and pray for it to Hashem, for in its peace you will have peace.
Here is the source for the words of Chazal: "Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear of it, a man would swallow his fellow alive." Everywhere, there must be a governing authority. Even if it is not a righteous king, the very fact that he holds the monarchy with an iron fist prevents many troubles. Consider what happened in Iraq after Saddam was toppled: car bombs every day, civil war, assassinations, dozens killed each week. Many there yearn for his era. He was a tyrannical and cruel ruler, but there was order. Anarchy is worse than anything, and any government is preferable so long as there is no anarchy.
Therefore the prophet tells them: Seek the peace of the city, because as long as there is no war you are safe, and if war breaks out, make no mistake, you are part of that city. The Malbim adds: when they enjoy abundance, that abundance will flow to you as well.
Verses 8-9: Let Not Your Prophets Deceive You
כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אַל־יַשִּׁיאוּ לָכֶם נְבִיאֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר־בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וְקֹסְמֵיכֶם וְאַל־תִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶל־חֲלֹמֹתֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם מַחְלְמִים׃ - For thus said Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you cause to be dreamed.
We have already encountered the root of hasha'ah (deceit): "The serpent deceived me (hishi'ani), and I ate" - meaning, it enticed and seduced me. Do not let your prophets - the false prophets - incite and seduce you, nor your diviners, who perform acts of sorcery to supposedly validate their words.
And what is the meaning of "your dreams that you cause to be dreamed (asher atem machlemim)"? The Radak explains: You yourselves cause your "prophets" to dream dreams. Since you listen to their dreams, this encourages them to dream all kinds of fantasies in order to come and recount them to you so that you will be influenced by them. You "cause them to dream" (machlemim) - meaning, you induce their dreaming.
Another explanation: machlemim is related to she'elat chalom (dream inquiries). A dream inquiry means that a person poses a question and receives an answer from Heaven. In the sefer Mishnat HaChalomot, several methods are cited that people used in their times to pose dream inquiries and receive answers, along with many examples of questions and answers received. It turns out that you yourselves cause these dreams through the dream inquiries you posed.
The Malbim offers an additional explanation: you yourselves cause these dreams by dwelling on the matter all day long, as the Gemara says, a person reflects on something all day and then sees it at night. Most dreams stem from the thoughts of a person's heart. It turns out that these are self-induced dreams; you cause yourselves to dream about this. Therefore, do not listen to your dreams that you cause yourselves to dream.
כִּי בְשֶׁקֶר הֵם נִבְּאִים לָכֶם בִּשְׁמִי לֹא שְׁלַחְתִּים נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃ - "For they prophesy falsely to you in My Name; I have not sent them, says Hashem."
Whatever they speak in My Name is a falsehood; I have not sent them.
Verse 10: Seventy Years, and a Precise Target Date
כִּי־כֹה אָמַר יְהֹוָה כִּי לְפִי מְלֹאת לְבָבֶל שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה אֶפְקֹד אֶתְכֶם וַהֲקִמֹתִי עֲלֵיכֶם אֶת־דְּבָרִי הַטּוֹב לְהָשִׁיב אֶתְכֶם אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה׃ - "For thus says Hashem: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will remember you and fulfill My good word toward you, to bring you back to this place."
Do not listen to the prophets who promise that any moment now the exile of Yechanyah will be returned, and any moment now the king of Babylon will send you back to the Land. It is a false prophecy. Know that the exile is still long, and I am giving you a precise target date: when seventy years are completed for the kingdom of Babylon, from the day Nevuchadnetzar began to reign until the days of Cyrus (Koresh), then the Babylonian empire will fall and I will remember you. "I will remember you" means that Cyrus will be inspired, and the nation will awaken to redemption.
However, the adversaries of Yehudah and Binyamin would then come and cause them trouble, leading Cyrus to rescind the initial permission he gave to build the Beis HaMikdash. Another eighteen or nineteen years would pass, and only then would seventy years be completed precisely from the destruction of Jerusalem, at which point the redemption would come. And so it was: after those years came the reign of Darius (Daryavesh), the son of Esther, and he renewed the license to build the Beis HaMikdash. It turns out that the entire delay caused by the adversaries of Yehudah was orchestrated from Heaven, so that the years would be fulfilled exactly.
Verse 11: Thoughts of Peace and Not of Evil
כִּי אָנֹכִי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת־הַמַּחֲשָׁבֹת אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי חֹשֵׁב עֲלֵיכֶם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה מַחְשְׁבוֹת שָׁלוֹם וְלֹא לְרָעָה לָתֵת לָכֶם אַחֲרִית וְתִקְוָה׃ - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Hashem, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: All My thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace. What I told you about spending seventy years in exile is not for your detriment, but quite the contrary. For thus says the Torah: "Then their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled." Exile has a purifying element. I did not exile you arbitrarily; this is not mere punishment or revenge, but thoughts of peace, so that afterward you will have hope and ultimately return to the Land.
And if you should ask: Would it not have been better to leave us in the Land? Consider what the Gemara says. How much time did Moshe tell them would pass before they would be exiled from the Land? "When you father children and children's children, and you have remained long (venoshantem) in the Land," and venoshantem has the numerical value (gematria) of 852. The verse continues: "you will quickly perish from upon the good land." And in reality, how quickly did they perish? 850 years from the time they entered the Land. The Holy One, blessed be He, brought the exile forward by two years. Rava said: From this you learn that the "quickly" of the Holy One, blessed be He, is 850 years.
Consider how relevant this is to us. A person prays: "Master of the Universe, may the Holy One, blessed be He, swiftly eliminate the enemy!" The Creator of the world responds: "No problem; within 850 years the matter will be settled." A human being lacks patience; he wants it right now, this very moment. But the Holy One, blessed be He, says: My "quickly" is 850 years. Indeed, "For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday when it passes" - a thousand years are like a single day, so when Hashem does something quickly, He finishes it that very same day. That is our shortcoming: a lack of patience.
And what do we learn from this? That had we reached the count of 852, the end of the verse, "and you shall perish," would, Heaven forbid, have been fulfilled in us. The Holy One, blessed be He, brought the exile two years earlier, and thus we did not perish. It turns out that sometimes bringing the exile forward is for our own good. A person might say: If only we had stayed two more years in the Land! He is told: No; had you stayed two more years, it would have been a far greater disaster. Be glad that you went into exile early.
And this is precisely what the Holy One, blessed be He, says here: I am thinking thoughts of peace concerning you, for My desire is that when you return here, you will endure. But if I bring you back prematurely - before you draw the necessary conclusions, before you take upon yourselves to mend and improve your ways, before your uncircumcised heart is humbled - an even harsher exile will follow. What would you have gained? Therefore, on the contrary, it is good for you to remain longer in exile. Seventy years is a substantial amount of time, and during this time, marry wives, father children, marry off your children, build houses, and plant vineyards; you have more than enough time in exile.
"A Future and a Hope": The Beginning of the Wicked and the End of the Righteous
The Malbim asks: What is "a future [acharit] and a hope"? He explains that acharit always denotes ultimate happiness and purpose. The wicked have a beginning, while the righteous have an end, a future. The wicked prosper in this world, but ultimately their future is lost, as it is stated, "there will be no future for an evil man" (Mishlei 24:20), and "behold, the end of nations is a wilderness" (Yirmiyahu 50:12). In contrast, the success of the righteous comes at the end: "to do you good in your end" (Devarim 8:16), "and there is hope for your future, and children will return to their border" (Yirmiyahu 31:16). All's well that ends well.
Concerning the wicked, it is said, "they sprout like grass" (Tehillim 92:8). What is the nature of grass? It grows quickly. A little water drips from an air conditioner, and within two days a thick patch of grass sprouts. A bit of strong sun, the water runs out, and it all dies. Just as quickly as it sprang up, so it collapsed, like Jonah's gourd. In contrast, "the righteous one will flourish like a date palm" (ibid., v. 13). Until you see dates from the palm tree, you must sweat a great deal, but once it has grown, it endures; it remains for generations.
This is a point well worth reflecting on in the reality around us as well. The secular world is portrayed as a world of fun, of unchecked pleasures and desires, and there is no denying that the world's desires lie wide open before it. But let us examine how long that period of "fun" actually lasts: roughly from age fifteen until thirty or thirty-five at the very most. You reach thirty-five, having partied and enjoyed yourself, and suddenly you find yourself without a wife, without children, without a family - an isolated person. And the same is true for a woman: she enjoyed parties and having fun, and suddenly she is thirty-two or thirty-three, the biological clock is ticking, she looks in the mirror and sees that this is not the same face looking back from ten years ago, and aging for women is faster. Then the panic sets in. The window of opportunity is very short, and the pleasure is very fleeting.
As one ages, a person reaches forty already wrinkled, and only then starts looking into how to build a home and have children. When your child is fifteen, you will be fifty-five, already aging and already tired of raising children. Meanwhile, your Torah-observant neighbor - true, he had one wife and did not "party" - but by the time you reach thirty-five, his son has already celebrated his bar mitzvah, and he already has five, six, or seven children, an orderly home, and a place to return to. When you are forty-five, he is already marrying off his children, and later he is already a grandfather, while you are still lonely, chasing fun and cheap thrills. When you are fifty, he already has grandchildren around him and an extensive family, while you are still looking for someone who will look your way. Such people are truly pitiful. And even if he does marry, at what age will he marry? And since he has always been accustomed to looking outside, with his eyes wandering outward, will he truly enjoy what he has? Will he truly be content with what he has?
Even someone who has children, if he did not raise them according to the Torah, has one son in Los Angeles and another daughter elsewhere, and he recounts that whenever he calls him, he feels the child is just looking for a way to end the call. Who even thinks about him? And when he is no longer feeling well, suddenly everyone shows up - why? An inheritance is right around the corner. How many people who are distant from mitzvot do you know whose children truly appreciate them, feel bonded to them, care for them, and call them? It is not that none exist, but they are not the majority. I am not speaking of the previous generation, where even those distant from mitzvot had respect for parents. I am speaking of today's generation, which cares neither for father nor mother so long as they do not get in the way, viewing them merely as an ATM. Such a person ostensibly enjoyed life and had fun, but only for a brief period, and afterward everything evaporates.
This is what the Malbim is telling you: the righteous succeed in the end. You might say: Look, right now I am having fun while he is stuck in yeshivah. True, you are right. At the beginning it is toil, at the beginning it is an investment, but later on, let us see where you stand. You will sit on a bench across from that person, counting passing buses, while he - "they will still bear fruit in old age; they will be fat and flourishing" (Tehillim 92:15) - attends the study hall, sits and engages in Torah study, experiencing true fulfillment, blessed with family, children, grandchildren, and already great-grandchildren. Everything depends on what a person invests. If one invested in the beginning, he will have an acharit, a future. If he thought to turn the beginning into mere fun, there is no hope for his future.
Verses 12-13: Prayer in Exile as a Condition for Redemption
וּקְרָאתֶם אֹתִי וַהֲלַכְתֶּם וְהִתְפַּלַּלְתֶּם אֵלָי וְשָׁמַעְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶם׃ - "And you will call upon Me, and you will go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you."
When you call upon Me - meaning, when you repent and pray to Me - I will listen to you, bring you back, and redeem you. With this, the prophet teaches them a fundamental principle: do not think that you must have a Beit HaMikdash for your prayer to be heard. Even without a Beit HaMikdash, even while you are in exile, your prayer is heard. And this is also the condition for redemption. For the uncircumcised heart must be humbled, and how will it be humbled? Through "and you will call upon Me." As long as you were here in the Land, you bowed eastward to the sun with your backs toward the Sanctuary of Hashem - a terrible and dreadful sight - exposing yourselves disrespectfully toward the Temple, may the Merciful One spare us, and spurning Hashem your God. But when you are in exile and call upon Me, that in itself will be the cause of the redemption.
וּבִקַּשְׁתֶּם אֹתִי וּמְצָאתֶם כִּי תִדְרְשֻׁנִי בְּכׇל־לְבַבְכֶם׃ - And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Chazal explain that "and you will seek" is like someone searching for a lost object, and "and you will find" is like someone finding it. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will return to you. But there is a condition: "when you search for Me with all your heart" - the seeking and searching must be with your whole heart.
Verse 14: An Initial Redemption and a Complete Redemption
וְנִמְצֵאתִי לָכֶם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וְשַׁבְתִּי אֶת־שְׁבוּתְכֶם וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִכׇּל־הַגּוֹיִם וּמִכׇּל־הַמְּקוֹמוֹת אֲשֶׁר הִדַּחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם שָׁם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וַהֲשִׁבֹתִי אֶתְכֶם אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר־הִגְלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם מִשָּׁם׃ - And I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will restore your captivity and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.
I will fulfill your request, I will restore your captivity, I will return you to the Land of Israel, I will gather the exiles, and you will merit to pray here in the Beis HaMikdash.
Here the Malbim explains a fundamental principle, which will also be seen in the Book of Daniel and in the books of Ezra and Nechemiah: The redemption in the days of Ezra and Nechemiah was only an initial redemption, not a complete one. Only forty-two thousand ascended from Babylon. This initial redemption was a kind of preparation for the final redemption, a probationary period. Had the Jewish people prayed to Hashem at that time, returned in complete repentance, and done His will, they would have merited the ultimate, final redemption.
Thus, even when speaking here about the seventy years after which the exile would conclude, the intention is not the final redemption, but rather the initial redemption that would first and foremost bring you back to the Land. And once you were here, the Beis HaMikdash was rebuilt, and you prayed to Hashem, you would become worthy and receive the ultimate, absolute redemption. Then the verse would be fulfilled, "and I will gather you from all the places where I have driven you" - a complete ingathering of the exiles and the return of everyone to the Land. That was to be the second stage, not the first.
Unfortunately, however, we never reached that second stage, because we failed in the first. The Beis HaMikdash was rebuilt and stood for four hundred and twenty years, yet during those years they acted wickedly, harbored baseless hatred among themselves, and made themselves liable to another exile. Not only were they unworthy of the complete redemption, but they became unworthy of the Beis HaMikdash itself, and the Second Temple was destroyed as well. It turns out that the original plan - to bring the complete redemption in the wake of the partial redemption - did not come to pass.
Verse 15: "Hashem Has Raised Up Prophets for Us in Babylon"
כִּי אֲמַרְתֶּם הֵקִים לָנוּ יְהֹוָה נְבִאִים בָּבֶלָה׃ - For you have said: "The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon."
The prophet tells them: What I am telling you - that seventy years must pass and only then will I remember you - is the truth. But when I tell you this, what do you claim against me? "Hashem has raised up prophets for us in Babylon." We have prophets here in Babylon, and they prophesy that we are about to return at any moment. Why seventy years? Within two years Hashem will break the yoke of the king of Babylon, return the vessels, and bring the people back!
And the truth is that their prophecy was far more appealing. Yirmiyahu says: stay seventy years, settle down, marry wives, and father children. Meanwhile, the other prophets come along and say things that sound so much nicer. This was one of the greatest difficulties facing the true prophets: their words were unpopular. They were constantly speaking of grim and painful things yet to come. After all, what is the purpose of prophesying good? When the good arrives, we will see it. But a prophecy of retribution is necessary, so that it can avert the calamity through good deeds and repentance.
Therefore, the prophets were never popular. People cursed them, punished them, and persecuted them. "I gave my back to smiters, and my cheeks to those who pluck out hair; I did not hide my face from humiliation and spitting." They disgraced them, cast Yirmiyahu into the court of the guard, and nearly drowned him in the mud. They endured countless hardships and were relentlessly pursued.
The false prophets, by contrast, were the media of that generation. Always offering only sweet, flattering words: how wonderful this nation is, what lovely youth we have - the youth of the memorial candles and the youth of the town squares - how noble and virtuous they are! If they fail their tests, we will just lower the bar. If a fact is inconvenient, it will not be covered. "Do not look only at the negative; look at the positive side as well." In short: everything is wonderful, everything is fine, everything is magnificent. That is what people love to hear. But start speaking about troubling realities, about how society is deteriorating and how the spiritual state is in steep decline, and immediately they tell you: do not speak ill. Who does not remember poor Rabbi Peretz, when he spoke about Shabbat and its desecration, and when he pointed out that eighty percent of the Russian immigrants were non-Jews (and today people already say ninety percent) - what a ferocious onslaught was unleashed against him! Nobody likes to hear painful truths. And that is why you come along and say: look, we have prophets prophesying good things for us, assuring us that any moment now we are going to return.
In summary:
Yirmiyahu's letter to the exiles in Bavel teaches a fundamental principle of Divine providence: the exile is not an act of vengeance, but "thoughts of peace." "Build houses, take wives, and multiply there," because the exile will be long, and it is precisely coming to terms with its duration that enables survival. "And seek the peace of the city," for were it not for the fear of the ruling authority, men would swallow each other alive. On the other hand, it offers a sharp warning against false prophets, diviners, and self-induced dreams that promise instant salvation. The seventy years were precisely decreed, and every delay along the way was directed from Above. "A future and a hope": the wicked have a beginning but have no future, whereas for the righteous, the future brings ultimate success. And the condition for redemption lies in our own hands: "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me," "when you search for Me with all your heart." The initial redemption in the days of Ezra and Nechemiah was meant to serve as an introduction to the ultimate redemption, but because we failed to withstand the test, the Second Temple was also destroyed, and we still await that complete redemption speedily in our days.