Verses taken out of context || Jeremiah 29:11 || Exegesis || Hermeneutics || Bible reading || Bible study || Context || Never read a verse || 2025

 

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"Not to discourage you from using and applying the verse from the scripture but to make you aware how not to read, interpret and apply the verse."

Verses Taken Out Of Context

Jeremiah 29:11

“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 a hope and a future.”

This is a graduate’s favorite verse. We love to believe it’s all about us—that it means that God has plans to give us everything we could dream of and that the ultimate goal for our lives is happiness and prosperity. But then what happens when we don’t get everything we want? What happens if harm does come to us and we aren’t prosperous?

Context is so important. If you open up to Jeremiah 29, you’ll find that this chapter is actually a letter. And it’s not written to a college graduate, much to our disappointment. In fact, it’s not written to any one person at all. The “you” in this letter is plural and the people Jeremiah writes to are the exiled Jews. It’s a response about a false prophet named Hananiah. Ironically, Hananiah had been prophesying prosperity to the Jews and he prophesied that it would be fulfilled within two years. In chapter 29, Jeremiah not only refutes this false prophecy, he also reveals that the Jews would not see freedom for more than seventy years. Not exactly the prosperous ideal we’d like to imagine!

We’re often tempted to believe this verse is about our personal well-being, but we’re missing the big picture. It’s not about us at all. These plans God is referring to? They are actually his plans for his people as a whole, and these plans ultimately point to Jesus. That promise for a future and a hope that we long for was fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection! So, if you’d like to use this verse for your college graduate, make sure they know that it’s not about the job they’ll get or the happiness they’ll receive in life. It’s so much bigger than that! It’s ultimately about the Savior that died so that they could live!

~ Emily Richardson