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what did the exiles expect to happen based on other prophecies of the time?

Adds the setting and its conversation across both testaments.

Jeremiah 29:10-14

“For thus says Yahweh, "After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. You will call on me, and you will go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh; and I will bring you again to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive."”

Jeremiah is a prophet writing to the Jewish people exiled in Babylon in the 6th century BCE. This letter directly addresses their circumstances, advising them on how to live in exile and offering a long-term perspective on their future.

What does it mean to cultivate hope when your current circumstances feel designed to crush it?

Then — the setting

This prophecy was sent to the first wave of exiles deported to Babylon in 597 BCE, including King Jehoiachin and many elites. Other prophets of the time, often called 'false prophets' by Jeremiah, were predicting a quick return, perhaps within a year or two. These exiles were holding onto those more immediate hopes, perhaps even actively resisting settling into Babylonian life. Jeremiah's message, therefore, was a stark contrast, urging them to build lives, marry, and seek the welfare of Babylon for 70 years before God's promised return.

Across the Testaments

In the Old Testament, this passage directly addresses a physical, historical exile and promises a concrete return to the land of Judah. The New Testament often takes themes of exile and return and reframes them in spiritual or eschatological terms. For example, believers are sometimes described as 'sojourners and exiles' in the world (1 Peter 2:11), looking forward to a 'heavenly homeland' (Hebrews 11:16) rather than a geographical return. However, the New Testament also retains a future hope for physical restoration and a new creation, drawing on the Old Testament's tangible promises.

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Read alongside it

Isaiah 40:1-5
Comforts the exiles with promises of return and restoration, envisioning God clearing a path.
Psalm 137:1-6
Expresses the deep despair and longing for Jerusalem felt by those in Babylonian exile.
Daniel 9:1-2
Daniel later prays based on Jeremiah's prophecy of 70 years, indicating its importance.

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