Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Jeremiah 29:7 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 7. 7And 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The narrated crisis and constrained human response carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and…” at Jeremiah 29:7 as part of “Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek Peace.”
Read It With
- Jeremiah 29:1–7
Read Jeremiah 29:7 with 29:1–7. By itself, “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, imperial horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: A letter to deported elders, priests, prophets, and people calls for homes, gardens, families, longevity, and pursuit of Babylon's welfare.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This received unit develops “Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek Peace” through its own speaker, addressee, date, oracle, sign, lament, or historical scene. Its non-interchangeable movement is: A letter to deported elders, priests, prophets, and people calls for homes, gardens, families, longevity, and pursuit of Babylon's welfare. This verse's placement is specific: The narrated crisis and constrained human response carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and…” at Jeremiah 29:7 as part of “Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek Peace.”
Follow the Context
- The unit begins at 29:1 with the speech, scene, image, or date named in its title.
- A letter to deported elders, priests, prophets, and people calls for homes, gardens, families, longevity, and pursuit of Babylon's welfare.
- At 29:7 the movement reaches its response or transition before the next unit.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Seeking Babylon's peace does not endorse empire, demand political silence, or forbid protest.
What Remains True
The exiles' durable welfare is linked to the city's welfare during a long, constrained residence. In Jeremiah 29:7, that bounded truth is carried through this verse's role: The narrated crisis and constrained human response carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and…” at Jeremiah 29:7 as part of “Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek Peace.”
How It Can Shape Life
- Contribute to shared goods while naming injustice and protecting displaced identity. This verse directs that response through its exact role: The narrated crisis and constrained human response carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and…” at Jeremiah 29:7 as part of “Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek Peace.”
Teach It Back
Explain Jeremiah 29:7's precise role in Jeremiah 29:1–7: The narrated crisis and constrained human response carries the next action, claim, image, or measurement through “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and…” at Jeremiah 29:7 as part of “Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek Peace.” State how “Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek Peace” controls the line, keep this uncertainty visible—Seeking a captor city's peace does not approve empire, demand silence about abuse, or make assimilation and intermarriage universal commands.—trace role to contextual meaning to enduring truth to application, and reject one use the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Jeremiah 29:1–7 — Jeremiah's Letter Tells Exiles to Build and Seek PeaceSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
Readings differ over historical reconstruction, composition, rhetoric, theology, and later reception. The preferred reading follows this complete unit while preserving the limit: Seeking a captor city's peace does not approve empire, demand silence about abuse, or make assimilation and intermarriage universal commands.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Jeremiah 29:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Jeremiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2; fixed commit
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jer.xml, OSIS 29:1–7
Open the fixed Hebrew Jeremiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Jeremiah with Translator, Textual, and Study Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; official eBible PDF distribution, NET Bible Second Edition; official PDF accessed 2026
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, names, textual problems, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Jeremiah PDF, pp. 1258-1459, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Jeremiah 29:1–7
Open the official NET Jeremiah PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Jeremiah: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Themes, and Bible in the World
Terence E. Fretheim and Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current public course accessed 2026
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with ancient-to-modern limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Jeremiah course, Outline and passage studies: kings, prophets, nations, yokes, Hananiah, and exile letter; applied to Jeremiah 29:1–7
Open the Enter the Bible Jeremiah course ↗open university study guide series
Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Jeremiah Parts 1-3 Study Guides
Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub
Yale Bible Study, 2024
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and explicit composition questions.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah Part 2 study guide, pp. 1-6: prophetic conflict, politics, exile, and restoration; applied to Jeremiah 29:1–7
Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗