Jeremiah 29:11...

For God knows the plans He has for you, not to harm you but to prosper you, plans to put you through fire and trials and tribulations and sharpening and perfecting and spiritual surgery and maybe read the book of Jeremiah and the entire Bible before building a whole theology on a single verse. - J.S. Park

Well let's take a look at Jeremiah 29:10-14

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

For one, "plans to prosper" clearly refers to the promise stated in verse 10 about fulfilling God's "good promise to bring you back to this place" aka the exiles back to Israel (I mean...the chapter title is called "Letter to the Exiles"). So the target audience is for all the Israelites in exile in Babylon (well not yet since it is in Jeremiah).

So in context it is already pretty specific. I don't see people quoting verses from God's one on one talks with Abraham or Jacob or Elijah and His promises to them (because it is obvious it shouldn't be applied to us), so why do we quote this one so when God is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the exiles?

But if we are to take this passage and try to apply it to modern Christians, we do need to read on into verses 12 and 13. God will prosper when we seek Him with all our heart, and if we treat God as only a money-making machine or a wish granter (like a genie), then how is that seeking God with all your heart?

Verses 14 again make it clear this promise is only for the exiles, so please please please don't uses verses out of context. Or at least use scripture to test and verify other scriptures.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.
 
So let us not take scripture too out of context. I don't see people quoting Genesis 12 as a prayer to bless someone and promise them prosperity. But its so similar to Jeremiah 29:11. We don't because we are very sure it was for Abram (Abraham) and Abram alone. No, God is not going to make every one of us a great nation and make us a blessing, but through Abram He gave us a blessing that is Christ Jesus.

So let us cross reference this Jeremiah 29:11 with the rest of the Bible. God promises persecution (Matt 5:11, 2 Timothy 3:12, John 15:20), suffering (2 Corinthians 1:5), tribulations (Acts 4:22), and trials (1 Peter 4:12). For some of us, He has called us to die, like the apostles and many martyrs have done so in church history. But yes, God does have plans for each one of us (Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:17, John 14:2-3).

Bible study 101
1) To look at any scripture, you start with the verse. Do we understand the language within a Biblical context? Are we interpreting the words correctly in ancient Hebrew or in ancient Greek? Do certain words have different connotations back then?
2) Then look at the passage, do we understand the complete story within the passage? Context context CONTEXT!!!
3) Next look at the Book, does our understanding of the verse and passage fall in line with the Book?
4) Next we look at who the author is and his/her calling from God. Does our understanding of the Book fall in line with who the author was and what he would write about, especially in the ancient Jewish culture and in a historical context?
5)Next we cross reference the verse, passage, book with the entirety of the Bible, the full meaning of the Gospel. Do we understand why this Book with this passage with this verse is included in the Bible? How does it point to the Cross? How does it glorify God? How does it exemplify or fulfill the Gospel? Do we even know what is the Gospel?
(Inductive Bible study cheat sheet)
And anyways, we know that the Truth of scripture really is only revealed through the Holy Spirit.

If we honestly followed steps 1-5 above there is absolutely no way we can conclude the meaning we commonly used today from that verse.

 At the end of the day, don't quote Jeremiah 29:11 without reading all of Jeremiah first and knowing who Prophet Jeremiah is and what was happening to the Israelites in that specific time period.


I don't see anyone quoting Jeremiah 2:13. This is way more applicable to modern Christians than Jeremiah 29:11 ever was.


“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Update: Also this and this and this and this.