King James Version

Jeremiah 29:11

In Jeremiah 29:11 the LORD says he knows his thoughts toward his people: thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give them an expected end. It was first written in a letter from Jeremiah to the Jews carried away captive to Babylon, promising that God had not forgotten them.

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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.
Jeremiah 29:11 · KJV

Jeremiah 29:11 in context

⁸For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

⁹For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.

¹⁰For 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.

¹¹For 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.

¹²Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

¹³And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Jeremiah 29:8-14, King James Version.

What Jeremiah 29:11 means

The verse is God speaking about his own intentions. He knows the thoughts he thinks toward his people, and they are thoughts of peace, not evil. The goal of those thoughts is to give them an expected end, an old English phrase for a future they can hope for and look forward to. Many modern translations put it as a future and a hope.

The first readers were not people in a comfortable season. They were captives. Nebuchadnezzar had carried King Jeconiah, the princes, and the craftsmen of Jerusalem away to Babylon, and prophets were saying they would be home soon (Hananiah had promised a return within two full years, Jeremiah 28:3-4). Jeremiah wrote to tell them the truth: settle in, because the exile would last seventy years (Jeremiah 29:10).

So the promise of verse 11 is not that hard times would end quickly. It is that hard times were not the end. God would visit them, keep his good word, and bring them back. Verses 12-14 add that they would call on him, pray, and find him when they searched with all their heart.

Christians have long read the verse as telling something true about God's character toward his people in every age. That reading is fair, as long as the setting is kept in view: the peace it promises was spoken into a long wait, not in place of one.

Background and context

Before: Jeremiah 29:1-10. Jeremiah sends a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and people taken captive to Babylon. It is carried by Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah. God tells the exiles to build houses, plant gardens, marry, have children, and seek the peace of the city where they live. He warns them not to listen to the prophets who were promising a quick return, and says the return will come after seventy years.

After: Jeremiah 29:12-14. Then they will call upon God and pray, and he will listen. They will seek him and find him when they search with all their heart. He will turn away their captivity and gather them from all the nations back to the place they were taken from.

The rest of the chapter names false prophets in Babylon, including Ahab the son of Kolaiah, Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, and Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and pronounces judgment on them for prophesying lies.

Key verses

And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jeremiah 29:7 · KJV

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.
Jeremiah 29:10 · KJV

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 · KJV

Cross references

Jeremiah 25:11-12 Jeremiah's earlier prophecy that the nations would serve Babylon seventy years.And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Daniel 9:2 Daniel, in exile, reads Jeremiah and understands the seventy years.In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Ezra 1:1 Cyrus makes his proclamation so that the word of the LORD by Jeremiah might be fulfilled.Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Deuteronomy 4:29 Moses' promise that those who seek God with all their heart will find him, echoed in verse 13.But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Isaiah 55:8-9 God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts.For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Romans 8:28 A New Testament promise often read alongside this one.And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

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Common questions

What does Jeremiah 29:11 mean?

It means God's intentions toward his people were for peace and not for evil, and that he would give them a future to hope for. It was a promise that exile was not the end of their story.

Who was Jeremiah 29:11 written to?

It was written to the Jews taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. Jeremiah sent it as a letter to the elders, priests, prophets, and people in exile.

Is Jeremiah 29:11 a promise for Christians today?

It was first spoken to Israel in exile, and the setting matters: the same letter tells them to expect seventy years in Babylon. Many Christians read it as showing God's character toward his people in every age, while noting it promises hope through hardship, not a quick or easy road.

Who wrote Jeremiah 29:11?

The prophet Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, sent it in a letter from Jerusalem. The words are presented as the LORD's own message through him.

What does an expected end mean in the KJV?

It is an older English way of saying a hoped-for outcome or future. Modern translations often render it as a future and a hope.