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Old Testament

Jeremiah

52 chapters

Start reading: Jeremiah 1

About this book

Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible by word count and the most personal of the prophets. God calls Jeremiah while still young and sends him to warn Judah that idolatry, injustice and false security in the temple will bring disaster. For decades he is mocked, beaten and threatened, and he openly complains to God about the cost of the task. The book is not arranged in strict time order; it gathers sermons, symbolic acts, stories about the prophet and his scribe Baruch, and poems of grief. Jerusalem falls to Babylon just as he said. Yet in the middle of the book stands a message of hope: God promises a new covenant written on the heart, forgiveness of sin, and a future for his scattered people. Christians see in that promise a foreshadowing of what Jesus brings. Jeremiah shows that faithfulness to God can be lonely and costly, and that God does not abandon those who obey him.

Author
The prophet Jeremiah, with his scribe Baruch helping to write and preserve the scroll.
Date
Jeremiah prophesied from about 626 BC until after Jerusalem fell in 586 BC; the book was edited into its final form during or after the exile.
Audience
The people and leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, and later the exiles in Babylon.

Themes

God's call and the prophet's costIdolatry and false securityRepentance and judgmentThe new covenantHope in exile

Outline

  1. 1:1–1:19The call of Jeremiah
  2. 2:1–25:38Warnings against Judah's sin
  3. 26:1–29:32Conflict with false prophets, letter to exiles
  4. 30:1–33:26The book of consolation
  5. 34:1–45:5Siege, fall and aftermath
  6. 46:1–52:34Oracles against the nations

Key verses

Jeremiah 1:4-10Jeremiah 29:4-7Jeremiah 31:31-34

Chapters of Jeremiah

  1. 1Jeremiah 1Jeremiah, a priest's son from Anathoth, records God's call in the days of Josiah and through the fall of Jerusalem.
  2. 2Jeremiah 2God recalls Israel's early devotion, like a bride following him through the wilderness, and asks what fault their ancestors found in him that they went after worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
  3. 3Jeremiah 3God compares Israel and Judah to a wife who has been unfaithful; usually a man cannot take back a divorced wife who married another, yet God invites his people to return.
  4. 4Jeremiah 4If Israel returns to the Lord, and puts away detestable idols, the nations will be blessed through them.
  5. 5Jeremiah 5God challenges anyone to find in Jerusalem a single person who acts justly and seeks the truth, and he would forgive the city.
  6. 6Jeremiah 6The people of Benjamin are told to flee Jerusalem, for disaster looms from the north.
  7. 7Jeremiah 7God tells Jeremiah to stand at the temple gate and proclaim that people should not trust in the deceptive words the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.
  8. 8Jeremiah 8The bones of kings, priests, prophets, and people will be dug from their graves and scattered like dung, and death will be preferred over life for the survivors.
  9. 9Jeremiah 9Jeremiah wishes his head were a spring of water and his eyes a fountain of tears so he could weep day and night for his slain people.
  10. 10Jeremiah 10God warns his people not to learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens.
  11. 11Jeremiah 11God tells Jeremiah to proclaim the words of the covenant made when he brought Israel out of Egypt: cursed is the one who does not obey.
  12. 12Jeremiah 12Jeremiah brings a complaint to God: why do the wicked prosper and the treacherous live at ease?
  13. 13Jeremiah 13God tells Jeremiah to buy a linen belt, wear it, and then bury it near the Euphrates.
  14. 14Jeremiah 14A severe drought grips Judah, and the people mourn as the cisterns are empty and the ground is cracked.
  15. 15Jeremiah 15God says that even if Moses and Samuel stood before him, he would not turn toward this people; they are to be sent away, to death, sword, famine, or captivity.
  16. 16Jeremiah 16God tells Jeremiah not to marry, have children, attend funerals, or join feasts, as living signs that death and disaster will soon strike Judah and normal life will end.
  17. 17Jeremiah 17Judah's sin is written with an iron pen and diamond point on their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
  18. 18Jeremiah 18God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house, where he watches a vessel spoiled in the potter's hands be reworked into another.
  19. 19Jeremiah 19God tells Jeremiah to buy a clay jar and take some elders and priests to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the Potsherd Gate.
  20. 20Jeremiah 20Pashhur, the chief officer in the temple, has Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks after hearing his prophecy.
  21. 21Jeremiah 21King Zedekiah sends messengers to Jeremiah, hoping God will do a wonder and make Babylon's king withdraw.
  22. 22Jeremiah 22Jeremiah is told to go to the palace and proclaim to the king of Judah that he must do what is just and right, rescue the robbed from the hand of the oppressor, and not shed innocent blood.
  23. 23Jeremiah 23God pronounces woe on shepherds who scatter his flock and promises to gather the remnant and give them faithful shepherds.
  24. 24Jeremiah 24After Nebuchadnezzar takes Jehoiachin and Judah's leaders into exile, Jeremiah sees two baskets of figs in front of the temple: one basket of very good figs and the other of figs so bad they cannot be eaten.
  25. 25Jeremiah 25For twenty-three years Jeremiah has warned the people to turn from evil, but they have not listened to him or to the other prophets.
  26. 26Jeremiah 26At the start of Jehoiakim's reign, God tells Jeremiah to stand in the temple court and warn the people: if they do not listen, God will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse.
  27. 27Jeremiah 27God tells Jeremiah to make a yoke and wear it, and send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon.
  28. 28Jeremiah 28In the same year, the prophet Hananiah declares in the temple that the Lord will break Babylon's yoke within two years and bring back the exiles and temple treasures.
  29. 29Jeremiah 29Jeremiah sends a letter to the exiles in Babylon: settle down, build houses, plant gardens, marry and have children, and seek the peace and prosperity of the city where God has sent you, praying to the Lord for it, for in its welfare you will prosper.
  30. 30Jeremiah 30God tells Jeremiah to write all his words in a book, because a time is coming when he will restore his people to the land.
  31. 31Jeremiah 31This chapter is the heart of Jeremiah's Book of Comfort.
  32. 32Jeremiah 32With Babylon besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah imprisoned for prophesying its fall, God tells him that his cousin Hanamel will offer him a field in Anathoth to buy.
  33. 33Jeremiah 33While still confined in the courtyard of the guard, Jeremiah receives a second word: call to God and he will tell you great and hidden things you do not know.
  34. 34Jeremiah 34While Nebuchadnezzar's army attacks Jerusalem, Jeremiah warns Zedekiah that the city will fall and he will be taken to Babylon, though he will die in peace.
  35. 35Jeremiah 35In Jehoiakim's day, Jeremiah invites the Rechabites into the temple and offers them wine.
  36. 36Jeremiah 36In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, God tells Jeremiah to write all his words on a scroll, in case Judah repents.
  37. 37Jeremiah 37Zedekiah, installed by Nebuchadnezzar, and his officials ignore Jeremiah's warnings, though the king asks him to pray.
  38. 38Jeremiah 38Officials hear Jeremiah telling people that staying in Jerusalem means death but surrender means life, and demand his execution for demoralizing the soldiers.
  39. 39Jeremiah 39In Zedekiah's ninth year, Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem, and after eighteen months a breach is made in the wall.
  40. 40Jeremiah 40Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian captain of the guard, finds Jeremiah in chains among the exiles at Ramah, releases him, and tells him he may go anywhere or stay with Gedaliah, whom Babylon appointed governor of Judah.
  41. 41Jeremiah 41Ishmael, of royal descent, comes to Mizpah with ten men and eats with Gedaliah, then murders him and the Judeans and Babylonian soldiers with him.
  42. 42Jeremiah 42The commanders and all the people come to Jeremiah, asking him to pray for guidance and promising to obey whatever God says.
  43. 43Jeremiah 43Azariah and Johanan tell Jeremiah he is lying and that Baruch has incited him against them; they take everyone, including Jeremiah and Baruch, to Egypt, in disobedience to the Lord.
  44. 44Jeremiah 44Jeremiah speaks to the Judeans living in Egypt, warning them that the disaster on Jerusalem came because their ancestors and they burned incense to other gods, and asks why they do it again in Egypt.
  45. 45Jeremiah 45A short chapter is addressed to Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, dated to the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when he wrote down the prophet's words.
  46. 46Jeremiah 46The Lord's word about the nations begins with Egypt.
  47. 47Jeremiah 47A brief oracle concerns the Philistines, especially Gaza and Ashkelon, who lay in the path of an invader from the north.
  48. 48Jeremiah 48This long oracle against Moab lists towns falling one after another: Nebo, Heshbon, Kerioth, Horonaim.
  49. 49Jeremiah 49Jeremiah speaks against a series of neighbors.
  50. 50Jeremiah 50A long oracle announces the fall of Babylon, the empire that had been God's instrument against Judah.
  51. 51Jeremiah 51The oracle against Babylon continues with vivid poetry: a destroying wind, armies mustered, a golden cup that made the nations drunk now shattered.
  52. 52Jeremiah 52The book closes with history, much of it repeating 2 Kings.
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