For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the Lord, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
Ego enim scio cogitationes quas ego cogito super vos, ait Dominus, cogitationes pacis et non afflictionis, ut dem vobis finem et patientiam.Jeremias 29:11 · Clementine Vulgate
Explanation — not a translation
In brief
In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells His people that His thoughts toward them are of peace, not evil, “to give you hope and a future.” The promise is real — and it was given to a whole community facing a long exile, not as a guarantee of quick success for an individual.
The setting
Jeremiah 29 is a letter. Around 597 BC the Babylonians deported many people from Jerusalem, including the king and leading citizens. Prophets among the exiles were predicting a fast return. Jeremiah wrote to tell them the opposite.
The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished. Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”
Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël, omni transmigrationi quam transtuli de Jerusalem in Babylonem: Ædificate domos, et habitate: et plantate hortos, et comedite fructum eorum. Accipite uxores, et generate filios et filias: et date filiis vestris uxores, et filias vestras date viris, et pariant filios et filias: et multiplicamini ibi, et nolite esse pauci numero. Et quærite pacem civitatis ad quam transmigrare vos feci, et orate pro ea ad Dominum, quia in pace illius erit pax vobis.Jeremias 29:4–7 · Clementine Vulgate
Build houses, plant gardens, marry, and seek the welfare of the city where you are.
For the Lord says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Quia hæc dicit Dominus: Cum cœperint impleri in Babylone septuaginta anni, visitabo vos, et suscitabo super vos verbum meum bonum, ut reducam vos ad locum istum.Jeremias 29:10 · Clementine Vulgate
The promise comes after seventy years — most of the first hearers would not live to see the return.
What the promise says
The “you” in verse 11 is plural in Hebrew: it addresses the community. God’s plans are for shalom — welfare, peace — and for a future. Verses 12–14 continue with an invitation to call on God and seek Him with the whole heart.
Can it apply to me?
Christians have long read Old Testament promises as revealing God’s character, and that character does not change. It is fair to take comfort that God’s intentions toward His people are for their good. What the context rules out is reading the verse as a promise of a particular outcome on a particular timetable. The first hearers were told to wait patiently, work for the good of a foreign city, and trust God across a generation.
Read it with
Lamentations 3:21–24, from the same era, shows hope held in the middle of loss. The Hope page gathers related passages.