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Jeremiah 29: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you”
Jeremiah 29:11 is quoted at graduations and baby showers, but it was first written in a letter to refugees. Read in its setting, the promise becomes more honest, and more hopeful.
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Jeremiah 29 · King James Version
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.
A letter to Babylon
In 597 BC King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took Jerusalem's young king, his court, craftsmen and leading citizens into exile. Jeremiah stayed behind in Jerusalem and sent a letter to these exiles, carried by royal envoys. Chapter 29 preserves it.
Other prophets were telling the exiles they would be home within two years. Jeremiah told them the opposite. Build houses and live in them, plant gardens, marry, have children, he wrote. Seek the peace of the city where you have been carried away and pray for it, because in its peace you will have peace. The exile would last seventy years, a lifetime.
What does Jeremiah 29:11 mean?
The famous verse comes right after that sobering number. Only after seventy years, verse 10 says, will God visit them and bring them back. Verse 11 then explains God's intention behind the long wait. The King James “thoughts” translates a Hebrew word that many modern Bibles render “plans”. The thoughts are of peace, shalom again, and not of evil, meaning not of disaster.
“An expected end” is old English for a hoped-for outcome. Modern versions often say “a future and a hope”. The point is that exile is not the last chapter. God has a destination in mind even when his people cannot see past the next decade.
The promise was first addressed to a community, and the “you” is plural. It does not promise a comfortable life to each individual reader; many of the first hearers died in Babylon. It does reveal the heart of God toward his people, and Christians have long taken comfort in that as a word to them too. The following verses add a condition that is also a promise: ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Graduations, new homes and long waits
Jeremiah 29:11 is a common choice for graduates, couples starting out, and families welcoming a baby. Its original setting makes it just as fitting for anyone in a long waiting season: infertility, unemployment, a move far from home, or a recovery that takes years.
Seventy years and beyond
The seventy years are mentioned again in 2 Chronicles 36 and in Daniel 9, where Daniel reads Jeremiah's words and prays for the return. Ezra 1 records the decree of Cyrus in 538 BC allowing the exiles to go home. Paul voices the same confidence in God's purposes in Romans 8:28.