Jeremiah 29:11 (BSB)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

From Jeremiah 29. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Jeremiah 29:11

  • John Calvin (Reformed), Calvin's Commentaries on Jeremiah 29:11: He confirms the same thing, and employs many words, because it was difficult to raise up minds wholly broken down. For the world labors under two extreme evils, — they sink in despair, or are too much exalted by foolish pride: nay, there is no moderation except when ruled by God’s Spirit we recumb on his word; for when they devise vain hopes for themselves...
  • Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Jeremiah 29:8-14: To make the people quiet and easy in their captivity, I. God takes them off from building upon the false foundation which their pretended prophets laid, Jer 29:8, Jer 29:9. They told them that their captivity should be short, and therefore that they must not think of taking root in Babylon, but be upon the wing to go back: "Now herein they deceive you," says...
  • John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord,.... The purposes and resolutions of his heart concerning their welfare, particularly the restoration of them to their own land; these were within him, and known to him, and him only; they were remembered by him, and continued with him, as the "thoughts of his heart are to all generations"; and so would...
  • Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (Reformed), Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible on Jeremiah 29:11: I know--I alone; not the false prophets who know nothing of My purposes, though they pretend to know. thoughts . . . I think-- (Isa 55:9). Glancing at the Jews who had no "thoughts of peace," but only of "evil" (misfortune), because they could not conceive how deliverance could come to them. The moral malady of man is twofold--at one time vain confidence; then, when that is disappointed, despair.