For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 29:9 belongs to the exchange of letters between Jeremiah and the Hebrew captives in Babylon, including letters from false prophets to the captives and to Jerusalem's authorities. The chapter is a controversy between true and false prophecy, warning the captives in Babylon not to trust those who claimed to speak in the Lord's name when God had not sent them. The warning is that their claim to divine authority was false, and they were not to be trusted.
The false prophets deceptively predicted an imminent and speedy return to Jerusalem and deliverance from captivity. Instead the people were to settle in Babylon, live peacefully there, and wait until the appointed seventy years of captivity had passed. To trust the false predictions of speedy deliverance could lead the people into dangerous resistance to Babylon, so they were to follow Jeremiah's counsel instead. To trust the predictions of swift deliverance not sent by God would mislead the people into expecting a return before the appointed time.
Jeremiah 29:9 belongs to the exchange of letters between Jeremiah and the Hebrew captives in Babylon, including letters from false prophets to the captives and to Jerusalem's authorities. The chapter is a controversy between true and false prophecy, warning the captives in Babylon not to trust those who claimed to speak in the Lord's name when God had not sent them. The warning is that their claim to divine authority was false, and they were not to be trusted.
The false prophets deceptively predicted an imminent and speedy return to Jerusalem and deliverance from captivity. Instead the people were to settle in Babylon, live peacefully there, and wait until the appointed seventy years of captivity had passed. To trust the false predictions of speedy deliverance could lead the people into dangerous resistance to Babylon, so they were to follow Jeremiah's counsel instead. To trust the predictions of swift deliverance not sent by God would mislead the people into expecting a return before the appointed time.