Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth (1:1), with his secretary Baruch (36:4). Written: Prophecies from about 627 to 580 BC; the final chapter mentions an event of 561 BC (52:31)

Major prophets · Old Testament · 52 chapters

The book of Jeremiah

The weeping prophet and the new covenant

Author: Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth (1:1), with his secretary Baruch (36:4)
Written: Prophecies from about 627 to 580 BC; the final chapter mentions an event of 561 BC (52:31)
Time covered: From the thirteenth year of Josiah (627 BC) to the fall of Jerusalem (586 BC) and the flight to Egypt
Key word: Return

Set apart as a prophet before he was formed in his mother’s womb (1:5), Jeremiah denounces a people who have forsaken the fountain of living waters (2:13) and who trust in the temple as in a talisman (7:4). He performs sign after sign — the rotten belt, the potter’s vessel, the broken jar, the yoke on his neck — and weeps over his people. He announces seventy years of captivity (25:11), confronts the false prophet Hananiah and writes to the exiles (29). At the heart of the book shines the promise of a new covenant (31:31-34). Jehoiakim burns the scroll (36), Jerusalem falls (39), the remnant flees to Egypt (43). The oracles against the nations end with the fall of Babylon (50–51).

Main theme

Because Judah has forsaken the fountain of living waters, God hands it over to Babylon; but after seventy years he will bring his people back and make a new covenant with them, written on their hearts.

Outline

Jeremiah 1-25 — Calling and warnings to Judah
The prophet’s calling, sermons, signs and laments under Josiah and Jehoiakim, up to the 70 years of captivity.
Jeremiah 26-29 — The struggle against the false prophets
Jeremiah threatened with death, the wooden yoke and Hananiah, the letter to the exiles.
Jeremiah 30-33 — The book of consolation
Return from exile, the new covenant, the purchase of the field at Anathoth and the Branch of David.
Jeremiah 34-45 — The fall of Jerusalem and its aftermath
The scroll burned, prison, the cistern, the capture of the city, the murder of Gedaliah and the flight to Egypt.
Jeremiah 46-51 — Oracles against the nations
Egypt, the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Elam and above all Babylon.
Jeremiah 52 — Historical appendix
Account of the fall of Jerusalem and the favor shown to King Jehoiachin in Babylon.

Key points

Jeremiah is known and set apart by God before his birth (1:5); despite his youth, God puts his words in his mouth (1:9).
Judah’s “double sin”: forsaking the fountain of living waters and hewing out broken cisterns (2:13).
The temple sermon: the presence of the temple does not protect a people living in sin; Jerusalem will be treated like Shiloh (7:4-14).
The potter and the clay: God is sovereign, yet he responds to the repentance of a nation (18:1-10).
Jeremiah announces seventy years of captivity in Babylon (25:11; 29:10), a prophecy Daniel would later read (Dan 9:2).
The new covenant: the law written on the heart and the total forgiveness of sins (31:31-34), quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12.
King Jehoiakim burns the Word, but it is rewritten and expanded: the Word of God cannot be destroyed (36:23, 32).
The fate of the faithful and of the unbelieving: Ebed-melech, who trusted in God, has his life spared (39:17-18), while Zedekiah, who refused to listen, loses his sons and his eyes (39:6-7).

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5 — God knows and calls his servants even before their birth.

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Jeremiah 2:13 — The diagnosis of sin: leaving God, the fountain, for cisterns that leak.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:9 — The truth about the human heart, which only God can search and change.

Jesus in Jeremiah

Jeremiah announces the righteous Branch of David called “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (23:5-6), whom Christ has become for us (1 Cor 1:30). The promised new covenant (31:31-34) is inaugurated by the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20; Heb 8:8-12). Rachel weeping at Ramah (31:15) foretells the massacre at Bethlehem (Matt 2:17-18), and Jesus takes up his word about the temple become a “den of robbers” (7:11; Matt 21:13). Rejected by his own and weeping over Jerusalem, Jeremiah foreshadows Jesus, whom some in fact took for him (Matt 16:14).

Did you know?

Verse 10:11 is written in Aramaic, not Hebrew: it is a ready-made sentence the exiles could say to pagans in their own language.
In the City of David, archaeologists have discovered clay seals (bullae) bearing the names of Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Gedaliah son of Pashhur: two of the officials who had Jeremiah thrown into the cistern (38:1-6).
A letter on a potsherd found at Lachish (around 588 BC) says that the signals of Azekah can no longer be seen: this matches 34:7, where Lachish and Azekah are the last fortified cities of Judah.

Quiz on Jeremiah

What objection did Jeremiah raise at his calling?

Who wrote down Jeremiah’s words at his dictation?

According to the promise of the new covenant, where will God write his law?

There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start your free trial.