What Is Jeremiah 29: 10-14

In reading Jeremiah 29:10-14, over and over, diving into the nuances of this very famous and relied upon verse for hope of a future when times are hard, a certain idea continues to pervade the thoughts of this passage. Jeremiah is one of the major prophets of God’s Holy Word, but is there another side to him and, ultimately, to God that one can see in reading these four verses and the ones which surround them. The passage continually brings up ideas of pastoral care. Could a prophet also speak pastoral care to God’s people? I propose that God through Jeremiah was speaking pastoral care in these verses of Jeremiah 29:10-14 as well as speaking prophetically. This paper will define what prophetic speech is, define what pastoral care is and show in the historical context of the Judahite exiles in Babylonia the

The greatest example of what it means to be pastoral shows in God’s plan for God’s people shown in Scripture, which will be discussed, also. The story of the Judahite people trapped in exile in Babylonia is well documented by a historical, archeological foundation, therefore we know their story is a true story of capture, assimilation into Babylonian society, and return to their homeland many years later when the ruling body of Babylonia fell out of power and the Persians released the Judahites to return to Judah. Before we can enter in the historical context of the Judahite exiles and Jeremiah’s prophetic speech to them we must first understand what prophetic speech is. Jeremiah uses many forms of prophetic speech in the Book of Jeremiah. His prophecies use forms of prophetic speech such as the Messenger Formula(used 157 times), Messenger Speech (Jer 1), Prophetic Judgement Speech (Jer 11:9-12, 20:1-6),