Forming Faith Blog

Plans for Y’all, Not You (Jeremiah 29)

Posted on November 11 2025 by Gregory Rawn

The prophet Jeremiah writes that God has plans for you. But who is (or are) contained within that “you”? How do we faithfully apply Scripture to our lives?

A man pointing toward the viewer. Who was God pointing to through Jeremiah?
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
How Did We Get Here?

Last week, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed to the people of Jerusalem that God would bring light and hope to their dark situation, an attack by the Assyrian Empire that had recently conquered and exiled the northern kingdom of Israel. God rescued the people and drove off the Assyrians.

The prophets (including Amos from two weeks ago) warned the people of Israel that their idolatry and injustice (failing to love God and their neighbors) would lead to defeat and exile. They didn’t repent and change, and the Assyrians took them into exile. The Assyrian method of exile was not just to remove a people to another location together. No, they scattered the people, resettling them all over the empire, intermixing them with people of other languages and cultures. Note: This intermixing of the Israelites who were allowed to remain with people from other places is the origin of the Samaritans we encounter in the New Testament (and even today).

The people of the southern kingdom of Judah did a little better. They had a few faithful kings in the midst of their many disobedient ones. But they still disobeyed God with idolatry and injustice, and the consequence was the same: exile, this time at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians at least kept many of the exiled people together, which allowed many of them to eventually return to their land.

It is to these exiled Judahites (later to be called Jews) that the prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter.

Lovely Verses

Jeremiah’s letter condemned the messages of false prophets that promised quick deliverance and return to the land, and gave advice and promises to the people in exile. That advice boiled down to “settle in, people, you’re going to be there for a while.” The promise was summed up with the beautiful verse:

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

This is, indeed, a lovely verse, one I have seen on many graduation gifts, decorations, and cards.

You, You, or You?

On these items, the verse is usually interpreted to mean that God has a plan for me (Greg) and that plan is for a hopeful future for me (Greg). This is, in part, made possible with a quirk of the English language: the pronoun “you” can be both singular and plural. As a verse removed from its context, the “you” in the verse is taken as singular. The theological assertion is that God has a plan for each individual’s life, and that plan is for a hopeful future (or a future and a hope, to more precisely translate the Hebrew).

But there are a few problems with this. A theological problem is that it’s not really true. Many, many times, the future of individuals (even faithful Christians and Jews) is filled with trouble, suffering, and tragedy. Many times, everything is not going to be alright. We can interpret it eschatologically, in that we will be with God eternally in paradise. But that’s not how people use the verse.

So, the “you” is not singular, it’s plural. Which makes sense, as the letter was addressed to all the exiles. But, this can still be interpreted the same way: God has a plan for each of you (plural). And that runs into the same theological problem.

The reality is that the “you” here is not directed at an individual or set of individuals. It is directed at a people, the people of God. Just as God exiled the people to Babylonia because of their disobedience, God promises to give the people a future and a hope. After 70-ish years, the people would be allowed to return to their homeland, even if many in the audience of the letter would be dead before that happened. 

The Problem of Biblical Application

This demonstrates one of the problems inherent in applying the Bible directly to our lives, especially the words of the prophets. The truth is, these words were not written for us. Here, Jeremiah is writing to the people who were exiled to Babylonia. Paul wrote his letters to people in Rome, Corinth, or Thessalonica. Even the Gospels and Acts were written for communities that knew Jewish customs or that did not know Jewish customs, etc.

But does this mean that the Bible is only useful as a set of historical sources? Absolutely not. We can and should take to heart the truths and experiences of our ancestors in the faith, to learn from their choices and to get to know God along with them. But it’s critical to remember to de-center ourselves from our interpretation. We must learn as much about the context of the passages as we can and hold our interpretations lightly, knowing we could be wrong. Some parts are clearer (such as God’s unconditional love for us, the commandments to love God, love our neighbors, take care of people who are vulnerable, etc.). Other parts can take a bit more work. The good news is that God’s love for us is dependent only on God’s grace, not our correct interpretation of Scripture.

Future, Hope, and Shalom

So, since we aren’t exiles in Babylonia, does this passage have nothing for us? Absolutely not. We just need to take the context of the passage into account. 

  • While a general warning against trusting in false prophets is always relevant, that part we should probably skip. The same goes for the 70 years.
  • Indeed, being a part of the community we are in and working to benefit it is good advice. Our well-being is affected by the well-being of our community. That’s not much of a spiritual epiphany, but it is true.
  • God’s promises to the people teach us some important truths: God was with us, is with us, and will always be with us, no matter where we are or what we have done. This gives us hope to cling to, no matter what troubles we encounter. 
  • We will not experience perfect peace (shalom) in this life, but we will see glimpses of it and trust that God will bring shalom in the world to come.

In God’s presence,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

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