jeremiah

The Lord declares, “I have plans to prosper you”—what does “prosper” mean?

/ Al Ngu, MDiv / Leave a comment

The Lord declares, “I have plans to prosper you”—what does “prosper” mean?

Jeremiah 29:11–12 (NIV)

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.

Jeremiah 29:11–13 (ESV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29 verse 11 says for I know the plans I have for you plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and the future. That were prosper you has been linked to prosperity doctrine or some Christians were the pastors are not call it as an internal peace and joy and tranquility for the meaning of prosper and not the external. I looked at the Hebrew word for the word prosper basically they can be summarized as:

  • #1peace, friendship, reconciliation
  • #2 good health
  • #3 Well-being, peace, health
  • #4 to remain intact and to be in good health
  • #5 healthiness, completeness,
  • #6 Salaam to become in good condition, be intact, be in good health, stay well, be successful
  • #7 prosperity, success
  • Personal safety, welfare, state of health.

So you can see that when God said plan to prosper you means God has planned to give you good health, well-being, peace, completeness, prosperity, safety, welfare, state of health. All this includes the external well-being and internal well-being and healthiness. In other words to say that it is only for internal prosperity is missing the meaning of the original Hebrew word Shalom. When God said plan to prosper you he means all that. Esv calls for plans for welfare, king james version says plan for peace, NSB version says plans for prosperity, NLT version says plans for good.

Conclusion to his prosper you is the internal external Shalom the holistic wholesomeness.

Now I think the more important point is God’s says, “ I will prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope & future”, this is to assure the people of Israel in exile at that time to the nation of Babylon that God will continue to watch over them in fact even in spite of the circumstances of exile in the enemy’s camp, in the midst of godlessness and idolatry, God promised that he will continue to prosper, give them welfare, give them health and peace and prosperity. That is a huge promise to make sure we know that it is the Lord and not the world that gives us success or prosperity or peace and healthiness and well-being, but it is definitely the Lord our God. So you can apply that to your life your circumstances in New York City or wherever you are. Because the Lord our God often contrasts the brokenness and the depravity situation and circumstances with the glory of his grace.

I think next verse, verse 12 is even more important because that explains the purpose why God is sending them to exile and promising them to wholeness, healthiness, peace and Shalom in the land of exile in the first place:

Jeremiah 29:12–13 (NIV)

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.

The reason for promise to prosper or welfare or peace and Shalom is so that the people of God will call upon God and pray to God and God promised to listen to them. And God said “you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” That is the purpose and the goal of God’s exiling them to Babylon and promised to look after them and bless them prosper them and give them peace and Shalom so that they will learn to pray to God and listen and call upon God and pray to God. And what’s even more beautiful God promised that he will listen to their prayers so that they will seek God and find God but the condition is they will have to seek God with all their hearts.

So folks, God wants us to seek him not just flippingly or shallowly , but seek God with all our hearts! The key is all our hearts and not half of our hearts. So if you haven’t heard from God anything yet because you have not sought him with all your heart it doesn’t mean that he is not responding, but it merely means he’s waiting for you and I to seek him with all our hearts. Amen Shalom!

Jeremiah 29:10–14 (ESV)

10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear 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 I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

The idea to prosper you or to give you welfare is God’s promise that, “You will seek me with all your heart and I will be found by you.” I think that is even more profound statement in that it is relationally;  that prosperity must be centered on God and who he is. Without finding Jesus, what’s the point of finding all the material benefits, internal peace and tranquility?

So God promised to bless us when you seek Him with all our heart and the reason God is saying that it’s because we have not been seeking him with all our hearts. God promised that he would be found by us and what’s more verse 14 God promised to restore our fortunes! Folks I don’t know about you? But I have lost in my spiritual warfare and you know general welfare of my family and etcetera ministry and I’m looking forward for restoration of my fortune 2025 and beyond. And that is what it means to prosper and that will only happen if we follow the lord’s way even in times of exile or downturn, so long as we seek God with all our hearts we’ll find God’s prosperity upon our lives and restoring our fortunes. In fact, as this matter of fact, God often uses our turn down our downturn or exile to make us to seek him with all our hearts. Because we need to be humbled so that we will turn to him with all our hearts Amen.

Hebrew meaning of “Prosper” Jer 29:11 (NIV)

שָׁלוֹם, שָׁלֹם (237 times): שׁלם, Bauer-Leander Heb. 469e.

Inscr. 1: p. 37, 38, 43, 47; שלם in good health[1]

salīmu(m) peace, concord, friendship, reconciliation (AHw. 1015f; CAD S, 100b); cf. Noth Ges. Stud. 1: 148; Ph., Neo-Punic šlm well-being, peace, health[2]

C. General remarks: —šalāmu(m) to be (become) in good condition, be intact, be in good health, stay well, be successful (AHw. 1143b; CAD Š/1, 208b).[3]

Accordingly the basic meaning of שָׁלוֹם is often taken to be completeness, intactness,

—1. prosperity, success: a) Lv 26:6 Nu 6:26 Dt 23:7 Is 48:18 60:17, 48:22 = 57:21 52:7 = Nah 2:1 שְׁלוֹם הָעִיר Jr 29:7, מַחְשְׁבוֹת שָׁ׳ Jr 29:11 (rather as 7b).[4]

—4. personal safety, welfare, state of health: a) שְׁ׳ אֶסְתֵּר Est 2:11, אַחֶיךָ and שְׁ הַצֹּאן Gn 37:14, in reply to the question הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ is he well?, the answer is שָׁלוֹם Gn 29:6; הֲשָׁ׳ אַתָּה are you well? 2S 20:9, הֲשָׁ׳ is everything all right? 2K 5:21 cf. 9:22a, מָה הַשָּׁ׳ how can things be well? 2K 9:22b; (הֲ)שָׁלוֹם לַנַּעַר לְאַבְשָׁלוֹם 2S 18:29, 32.[5]

[1] Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson, and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament, 1994–2000, 1506.

[2] Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson, and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament, 1994–2000, 1506.

[3] Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson, and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament, 1994–2000, 1507.

[4] Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson, and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament, 1994–2000, 1507.

[5] Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson, and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament, 1994–2000, 1508.