Old Testament · Major Prophets · Book 24 of 66

Jeremiah

The weeping prophet’s call to return to God: judgment on Judah, hope beyond exile and the promise of a new covenant.

52 Chapters

Jeremiah 1–52

Author

Jeremiah, with Baruch

Written

c. 627 – 560 B.C.

Written For

Judah and the exiles

Overview

Jeremiah Summary

Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem for about forty years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah (627 B.C.) until after the city fell to Babylon in 586 B.C. (1:1–3). He served under Judah’s last five kings, as Assyria collapsed, Babylon rose and Egypt competed for control of the region. God called him as a young man, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (1:5), and appointed him “to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (1:10).

For most of his ministry Jeremiah warned that Judah had broken its covenant with the LORD. The people worshiped other gods, ignored justice for the poor, and trusted in the temple, in foreign alliances and in prophets who promised peace (2:13; 7:4; 6:14). He called them to return to God and warned that otherwise an enemy from the north, Babylon, would destroy Jerusalem. He told the kings to submit to Babylon and told the exiles to settle down and seek the good of the city where they lived (27:12; 29:7). His message was unpopular. He was beaten, put in the stocks, put on trial for his life, imprisoned and lowered into a muddy cistern (20:2; 26:8; 37:15; 38:6). The book records his honest complaints to God more fully than any other prophet’s (11:18–12:6; 15:10–21; 17:14–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–18), and his grief over his people led to his being called “the weeping prophet” (9:1).

Jeremiah also spoke of hope. After seventy years God would bring His people back (29:10–11). Chapters 30–33, often called the Book of Consolation, promise restoration, a righteous Branch from David’s line (23:5–6; 33:15–16) and a new covenant in which God says, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (31:33). While Babylon besieged the city, Jeremiah bought a field to show that “houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land” (32:15). After Jerusalem fell, he stayed with the survivors, was taken to Egypt against his will (43:6–7) and kept warning them there. Messages about the nations, especially Babylon, follow (chapters 46–51), and a historical appendix retells the fall of Jerusalem (chapter 52). The book is not arranged in time order; many sections are dated by the king who was reigning.

Several themes run through the book. Return to the LORD: the Hebrew word for “return” or “turn back” appears again and again (3:12–14; 4:1). False security: “Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the LORD’” (7:4). The human heart: “The heart is deceitful above all things” (17:9), and God promises to write His law on it (31:33). God rules the nations: like a potter with clay, He can uproot or build up any kingdom (18:1–10). Faithfulness in suffering: God’s word was “like a fire shut up in my bones” (20:9). Hope beyond judgment: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD” (29:11).

Readers understand parts of Jeremiah in different ways. The New Testament quotes the new covenant promise (31:31–34) as fulfilled in Jesus (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:8–12), and Christians read the righteous Branch as a promise of the Messiah, while Jewish readers look for its fulfillment in Israel’s restoration. The “seventy years” (25:11–12; 29:10) are counted in different ways: from 605 B.C. to the return in 538 B.C., from the temple’s destruction in 586 B.C. to its rebuilding in 516 B.C., or as a round number for a lifetime. Daniel prayed over this prophecy (Daniel 9:2). Some see the oracles against Babylon (chapters 50–51) fulfilled when Persia took the city in 539 B.C., while others note that Babylon was not destroyed then and see a later or fuller fulfillment, echoed in Revelation 18. This outline simply follows the text.

About the Name

Title

The book is named after the prophet. His Hebrew name, Yirmeyahu, is usually understood to mean “the LORD exalts” or “the LORD establishes,” though the exact meaning is uncertain. The English form comes through the Greek Ieremias and the Latin Jeremias.

Jeremiah is the second of the Major Prophets in English Bibles, after Isaiah and before Lamentations. In the Hebrew Bible it belongs to the Latter Prophets. By word count it is the longest book in the Bible. The Greek translation (the Septuagint) is about one-eighth shorter than the Hebrew text and places the messages to the nations in the middle of the book, after 25:13, in a different order. Copies of both forms were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. English Bibles follow the longer Hebrew text.

Who Wrote It

Author Details

Jewish and Christian tradition identifies the prophet Jeremiah as the author. He was the son of Hilkiah, from a priestly family in Anathoth, a village in the territory of Benjamin a few miles north of Jerusalem (1:1). The book says Jeremiah dictated his messages to his scribe Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote them on a scroll and read them in the temple. When King Jehoiakim burned that scroll, Jeremiah dictated it again “and many similar words were added” (36:4, 32). Baruch is also likely the source of the stories about Jeremiah told in the third person.

The last chapter was added by someone else. The book notes, “The words of Jeremiah end here” (51:64), and chapter 52 closely follows 2 Kings 24:18–25:30. Tradition often credits it to Baruch or a later editor. Many scholars think the book was gathered in stages: Jeremiah’s poetic messages, Baruch’s accounts of his life, and prose sermons that may have been shaped by Jeremiah’s followers during and after the exile. The two editions, the shorter Greek and the longer Hebrew, suggest the book was still being arranged for some time. Others see Jeremiah and Baruch as responsible for nearly all of it. This page follows the traditional view.

When It Was Written

Date of Writing

Jeremiah’s ministry began in the thirteenth year of Josiah, about 627 B.C. (1:2), and continued through the reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and afterward in Egypt (chapters 43–44). The first scroll of his messages was written in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 605 B.C. (36:1–2), and rewritten with additions after the king burned it. The last event in the book, King Jehoiachin’s release from prison in Babylon (52:31), took place about 561 B.C., so the book reached its final form after that, around 580–560 B.C. Scholars who see a longer editing process place its completion in the exile or the Persian period.

Jeremiah spoke first to the people of Judah and Jerusalem in the last years before the city fell. Parts of the book were addressed to the exiles in Babylon (chapter 29) and to the Judeans who fled to Egypt (chapter 44), and the finished book spoke to a people in exile wondering whether God was finished with them.

Study Guide

Jeremiah Outline

52 chapters in three parts. Jeremiah’s messages are not always in time order, so each section follows the book’s own arrangement. Tap any section to expand it, and tap a verse reference to read it at BibleGateway.

Part I