Jeremiah is mostly known as the “weeping prophet” but he was so much more than that.
His chief unique contribution was his articulation of the future new covenant between God and His people. In addition, the Book of Jeremiah includes many Biblical teachings about the nature of God.
Jeremiah was a dedicated, longsuffering follower of God. His courage and determination serve as a great example of faithfulness under extreme duress.
Jeremiah was the son of one of the Judean priests in a small town (Anathoth, about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem) from the smallest tribe, Benjamin.
His ministry lasted over 40 years, from the reign of Josiah until after the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 587 B.C.. His book was compiled by his faithful scribe, Baruch.
The book was probably assembled by 550 B.C., and is not in chronological order, requiring readers to know the general outline of Judah’s history.
When Jeremiah first received the word of the Lord, God told him:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (1:5)
Jeremiah protested that he was only a “youth” which meant he was still dependent on parental support. But the Lord told him:
“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. (1:7-8)
Although Jeremiah suffered greatly for the Lord, in the end, the Lord did always deliver him and he died of old age in Egypt where he had been taken by his friends against his will after the fall of Jerusalem.
Then Jeremiah saw the hand of God touch his mouth and heard the Lord say:
“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” (1:9-10)
Although it would be God who actually accomplished these actions, He would use Jeremiah to foretell of the nations that would be rooted out, pulled down and destroyed, including Judah. But right at the very beginning, God foretold that there would subsequently be a time to build and plant.
In the short-term fulfillment of this prophecy, Jeremiah later foretold that the Babylonian captivity would only last 70 years, and it did. Afterward, the Jews were allowed to return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
In the long-term, Jeremiah also points toward the time of the end when Jesus heralds the New Covenant and then establishes it in the New Jerusalem.
In what seems like an initial test of Jeremiah’s ability to hear the Lord and see His implanted visions, God first asked him, “What do you see?” (1:11)
Jeremiah answers that he sees an almond branch, the first tree to bud in the spring. The Lord then says, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.” (1:12)
What the Lord really did here was to build the youthful Jeremiah’s prophetic confidence.
Then the Lord gives Jeremiah His first indication of the Babylonian siege and conquest of Judah:
And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.” Then the Lord said to me: “Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah. I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.” (1:13-16)
This had to be quite distressing to the newly appointed young prophet, so the Lord tells him:
“Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.” (1:17-19)
Wow, what a way to begin a prophetic ministry and what a difficult assignment the Lord gave Jeremiah, warning him up front to expect harsh rejection, but then promising to always deliver him from trouble.
In subsequent chapters, Jeremiah is told to proclaim to Jerusalem about how the Lord rescued them out of Egypt and brought them to the promised land only to have them become like a faithless spouse by going after other gods.
Keep in mind, that these condemnations and exhortations were not delivered all at once but over decades as Jeremiah continued to prophesy about impending disaster.
In Chapter two, the Lord God lists the many sins of Judah, wherein Jeremiah becomes the first of the prophets to speak of “living waters” emanating from God, which the Judeans forsake for foreign gods:
“For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (2:13)
“Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” (17:13)
In Chapters three and four, Jeremiah tells them that judgment can be avoided if they would repent:
“Return, backsliding Israel,” says the Lord; “I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,” says the Lord; “I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God.” (3:12)
The Lord then gives them a glimpse of the wonderful New Jerusalem to come, the only time in Scripture when the Lord dwells among His people and all the nations of the world pay tribute (Revelation 21)
“At that time Jerusalem shall be called the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.” (3:17-18)
But the Judeans refuse to listen to God speaking through Jeremiah, and so later, God again exhorts them to repent and gives another glimpse of the glory to come:
“If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “Return to Me; and if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.” (4:1-2)
It is only in the New Jerusalem that the nations will seek to be blessed by the God of Israel and will come to the gates to pay homage to Immanuel (God with us), Jesus Christ, who will establish His throne on the New Earth for a thousand years.
This corresponds to the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21: And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (21:24-27)
Over and over again, Jerusalem fails to heed the word of the Lord, and so Jeremiah continues to warn of the destruction to come their way from out of the north – i.e. the Babylonians, also known as the Chaldeans.
It pains Jeremiah greatly to pronounce such calamity upon his own people and he laments over the imminent invasion:, the first of many lamentations:
O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. (4:19)
In answer, the Lord shows him how the creation process itself will be reversed at the time of the end, leaving the old earth without form and void:
I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; and the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, by His fierce anger. (4:23-26)
This corresponds to the Apostle Peter’s description: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (2Peter 3:10)
But the Lord promises that this is not the end of all things:
“The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black.” (4:27-28)
By not making “a full end” the Lord is saying here and elsewhere in Jeremiah, that He will always maintain a remnant of followers: “Nevertheless in those days,” says the Lord, “I will not make a complete end of you.” (5:18)
The Lord also promises to retain a remnant of both Judah and Israel, which again will occur on the Day of Wrath when all the world’s nations are judged in Jesus’ second coming: “But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid. Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord, “For I am with you; for I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, for I will not leave you wholly unpunished.” (46:27-28)
It is only the remnant that will receive the blessings in the New Jerusalem: And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-5)
Jeremiah continued to pronounce judgment on Jerusalem, but they still will not listen:
And so, the Lord asks, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?” (5:31)
The priests were prophesying falsely saying, ‘Peace, peace, when there is no peace.’ (6:14)
Today, the same situation prevails regarding the coming destruction of the earth: “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” (1Thessalonians 5:1-3)
And still, Jerusalem fails to heed Jeremiah’s proclamation, as well as the many declarations made by earlier prophets:
“But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.” (7:23-26)
Jeremiah again grieves for his people:
I would comfort myself in sorrow; my heart is faint in me. Listen! The voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country: “Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?”… For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people? (8:18-19, 21-22)
Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. (9:1-2)
The Lord then reminds the Judeans that the destruction He is threatening them with is simply the result of the curses that He laid out in Deuteronomy 28 for disobedience to the Mosaic Law:
“Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God.” (11:3-4)
God also laid out all the blessings that would come Israel’s way if they obeyed God’s law:
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2)
However, the blessings enumerated in Deuteronomy 28:1-15 were no longer available to them unless they were to repent, which they didn’t.
Instead, their disobedience invoked the curses which God had told them about in Deuteronomy 28:15-68:
“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country… The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me… The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies… Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you… They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you.” (Deuteronomy 28:15-16, 20, 25, 52)
Since God cannot lie, He had to bring about the result of these specific curses upon His own people who, after being warned by many prophets and being offered the promise of forgiveness, refused to repent.
After Jeremiah laments several times more, the Lord tells him:
“Do not pray for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.” (14:11-12)
“Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.” (15:1)
Later, Jeremiah complains about his status as a pariah among his own people:
Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, nor have men lent to me for interest. [Yet] every one of them curses me… (15:10)
The Lord replies, “Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.” (15:11)
But Jeremiah continues to complain about his personal circumstances:
I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, for You have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that fail? (15:17-18)
And again the Lord reassures Jeremiah, but doesn’t remove the prophetic burden off his shoulders: “If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; if you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you,” says the Lord. “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.” (15:19-21)
These are words to remember for anyone who chooses to serve the Lord. He may put you into perilous circumstances, unpleasant situations, but He will not allow you to be overcome.
And right away in Chapter sixteen, the Lord gives Jeremiah another burden to carry:
The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: “They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth.” (16:1-4)
In addition to not having a family of his own, the Lord tells him not to grieve with his existing family and friends when they reap death for their wickedness: For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.” (16:5-6)
And then the Lord tells him an astounding thing about the future:
“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.” (16:14-15)
This was not achieved until 1948 when the nation of Israel was restored after World War II, a key end-time marker that began the countdown to Jesus’ Second Coming.
In Chapter seventeen, delivered at a later time, the Lord once again regurgitates Judah’s sins, but then gives us, through Jeremiah, words to live by in any age:
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, .” (17:5-10)
All of this causes Jeremiah to pray for deliverance:
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise… Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom. Let them be ashamed who persecute me, but do not let me be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom,
And destroy them with double destruction! (17:14, 17-18)
Jeremiah’s rich book of wisdom continues in Chapter Eighteen where we get the memorable image of the Lord as the potter with us as the clay:
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” (18:5-6)
After which, the Lord again appeals to the Judeans to repent: “If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it… Return now everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” (18:8, 11b)
But, again, they don’t, even after Jeremiah and other prophets have foretold death and destruction. Instead, they plot against Jeremiah, rejecting the notion that Jeremiah could be right and all their leaders wrong.
Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.” (18:18)
And so Jeremiah appeals to the Lord once again for deliverance: Give heed to me, O Lord, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me! Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them. (18:19-20)
Though Jeremiah continues to prophesy God’s word faithfully, he continues to endure persecution, during which the Lord gives him another symbolic act. He is to gather some of the elders and break a flask before them while proclaiming:
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again.” (19:10)
Pashhur, the priest in charge of the Lord’s temple, heard Jeremiah prophesy these things, for which he had Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks.
When Pashhur released Jeremiah, the Lord said through Jeremiah, “The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib [Terror on Every Side]. For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword.” (20:4)
And, of course, Jeremiah was later proven to be right.
All of which causes Jeremiah to complain once again: O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; everyone mocks me. (20:7)
But he cannot escape the unction to prophesy that the Lord puts in his heart: Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not. (20:9)
And he also recognizes the Lord’s deliverance: But the Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome One. therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. (20:11)
Even as he praises the Lord, he curses the day he was born: Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the poor, from the hand of evildoers. Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! (20:13-14)
Today, many feel the same burden, but now that Jesus came to save us, we can keep our eyes fixed on the eternal prize of Heaven as being much more worthy than the troubles we face over the short duration of our earthly lives: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)
In Chapter 21, at a later date, King Zedekiah sent Pashhur to him to “Please inquire of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us.” (21:2)
But the Lord says through Jeremiah: “I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterward,” says the Lord, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.” (21:5-7)
All of which occurred just as Jeremiah prophesied, the first time he specifically foretold that it would be Nebuchadnezzar who would overcome Jerusalem.
In Chapter 23, Jeremiah begins to prophesy about the future end-times:
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” (23:5-8)
Although Israel was reconstituted as a whole in 1948, they have not dwelt safely, but have endured several wars and many acts of terrorism. Instead, this prophesy looks forward to the New Jerusalem where Jesus will rule and reign on the earth. (Revelation 21)
Jeremiah, though, continues to mourn over Judah, especially over the ungodly prophets: My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome. (23:9)
The Lord God confirms Jeremiah’s condemnation of the prophets: “Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.” (23:14)
Then the Lord tells Jeremiah: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.” (23:16)
Unfortunately, there is a lot of false prophesying going on today, which will get even worse as the end-times ramp up, with many falsely saying, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” (6:14)
The Lord told Jeremiah to purchase land in Judah as a sign to the people that even though conquest and exile was imminent, the Lord would one day restore Jerusalem:
For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.” (32:15)
After purchasing the land, Jeremiah’s prayer for understanding is a great model for us all:
Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. You show loving kindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts. You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.” (32:16-19)
Even after purchasing the land, Jeremiah is confused by it all: Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! And You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses”!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans. (32:24-25)
God’s response looks ahead to restoring Jerusalem, but they will only dwell safely in the New Jerusalem: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?… Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them… Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return,” says the Lord. (32:27, 37-39, 44)
Jeremiah was also threatened with death: Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. (26:8-9)
But Jeremiah didn’t back down: Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard. Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you. As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you. But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.” (26:12-15)
Some of Judah’s officials prevented the people from executing Jeremiah, reminding them that Micah had prophesied that “Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins” (26;18B), and King Hezekiah did not put Micah to death, adding that “but we are doing great evil against ourselves.” (26:19b)
Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. (26:24)
Another time that the Lord told His people that He would relent if they returned to Him was when Jeremiah had been banned from the temple: “Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.” (36:2-4)
Baruch had to go and read the words of Jeremiah in the temple when people had come to Jerusalem for a fast that had been proclaimed because of the Babylonians. One of those who heard, Micaiah, repeated the words to others and they decided King Jehoiakim should hear them too. They took the scroll and told Baruch to get Jeremiah and hide. But Jehoiakim didn’t want to hear any of it:
And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth… And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them. (36:23,26)
So, Jeremiah had Baruch take down the words again adding, Thus says the Lord: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here?’ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.” (36:29-31)
The Lord also warned King Zedekiah through Jeremiah, before he had been put in prison. Zedekiah asked Jeremiah to pray to the Lord God for him: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” (37:7-8)
Jeremiah was captured, beaten and imprisoned shortly thereafter and accused of deserting to the Chaldeans (i.e. the Babylonians). After many days, Zedekiah questioned him in secret, hoping for a different message, but Jeremiah told him, “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!” (37:17b)
He was kept imprisoned even as Jerusalem was sieged by the Babylonians: Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. (37:21)
Jeremiah continued to speak the prophecies foretelling Judah’s downfall at the hands of the Babylonians, so court officials got King Zedekiah’s permission to cast Jeremiah into a muddy cistern where he would presumably die.
Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian servant to the King, said it was evil to keep Jeremiah in the cistern where he would die, so Zedekiah ordered thirty men to take Jeremiah out. King Zedekiah once again asked for a word from the Lord and Jeremiah made him promise not to kill him before repeating his message that the King should surrender – otherwise Zedekiah and his wives and sons would be captured and Jerusalem burned with fire – which they were. (38:14-28)
Chapter 39 recounts the actual siege of Jerusalem, which lasted 18 months. Nebuchadnezzar then killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes as well as all the nobles of Judah. He put out Zedekiah’s eyes and took him to Babylon after burning down the King’s house and carrying away the rest of the people except for some of the poor Judeans who didn’t own anything who were left to toil the fields and vineyards. (39:1-10)
While Jeremiah “was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house” (32:2), the Lord told him, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (33:3), which included more about the New Jerusalem to come and about Jesus:
“Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.” (33:6-9)
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: In those days and at that time, I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. and this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (33:14-16)
After Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile King Jehoiakim and the officials of Judah, the Lord God compares the people of Judah to good figs and bad figs, saying that he will bring back the good figs from Babylon in seventy years, the first mention of the total exile time:
“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” (24:5-7)
“And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad”—surely thus says the Lord—”so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.” (24;8-10)
“Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,” says the Lord; “and I will make it a perpetual desolation. So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.” (25:12-13)
It was Daniel who recalled this prophecy while he was captive in Babylon, realizing that the time of captivity was drawing to a close: I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. (Daniel 9:2)
And, indeed, the Medes-Persians overthrew Babylon, with King Cyrus subsequently releasing the Jews to go back to Jerusalem, as inspired by the Lord God Almighty and earlier prophesied by Isaiah long before the exile began. (Isaiah 45:1)
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: “All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!” (2Chronicles 36:22-23)
Twice in the second half of Chapter 25, the Lord says His wrath will be poured out on all the people and nations of the world. This is the Day of Wrath preceding Jesus’ return:
“You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts. (25:29b)
“And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth.” (25:33)
This corresponds to what the Book of Revelations says about the Day of Wrath: And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)
Following the first group of Judeans exiled to Babylon, Jeremiah was given another symbolic act to perform by putting on a yoke and straps and speaking the Lord’s words to envoys from surrounding nations who had gathered to discuss how to resist Nebuchadnezzar together.
But Jeremiah told them that resistance was futile: “I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant.” (27:5-6)
The envoys all thought that their gods were the equal of Yahweh, and they certainly didn’t like hearing that Judah’s God was plotting with Nebuchadnezzar. And they especially didn’t like hearing what Jeremiah said next: “And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.” (27:8)
Jeremiah also told them that the envoy’s prophets, diviners and soothsayers were all telling them lies about being able to thwart Nebuchadnezzar.
He then repeated the message to Zedekiah, Judah’s king, and to all the priests, concluding by reiterating that after serving Babylon they would be able to return to Judah: “They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them,” says the Lord. “Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.” (27:22)
Then a false prophet in Judah, Hananiah, told King Zedekiah, “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.” (28:2-3)
Hananiah then took the yoke off Jeremiah’s shoulders and prophesied, Thus says the Lord: “Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.” (28:10-11)
Jeremiah’s response was, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the Lord.” (28:9)
Two months later, Hananiah died.
Jeremiah then wrote a letter to those who were exiled in the first of three stages in order to reassure them that God had not abandoned them, and in fact, wanted them to settle down, serve the Babylonians, build homes, plant gardens, and live their lives without resistance:
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. (29:4-7)
Jeremiah also warned them against the false prophets: For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.” (29:8-10)
Then comes one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, which are often misapplied, assuming that they mean we won’t experience adversity. Instead, always remember that these words were spoken to exiles forced to live in enemy land: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (29:11)
These are words of encouragement to those who are experiencing hardships, that there is a good future awaiting them if they keep their eyes and hearts truly focused on Him: “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity.” (29:12)
In response, another false prophet, Shemaiah, sent letters to all the people and priests still in Jerusalem calling for them to rebuke the “madman” Jeremiah, which was read by Zephaniah the priest with Jeremiah present.
The Lord then told Jeremiah to say, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie— therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the Lord, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.” (29:31-32)
In Chapters 30-33, Jeremiah focuses on the restoration of Israel:
“For behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,” says the Lord. “And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” (30:2-3)
Speaking about the Day of the Lord when the old earth and all the nations are destroyed, the Lord tells Jeremiah:
“Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.” (30:7)
“Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the Lord, “Nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, And no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.” (30:10-11)
“At the same time,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”… Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, o virgin of Israel!… Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth… He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock… For I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them,
and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.” (31:1, 4, 8, 10, 13)
It is after this that Jeremiah describes the New Covenant that God will make with His people, which we now know was established through the blood of Jesus Christ:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (31:31-33)
And, even more significantly, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (30:34b)
After conquering Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Jeremiah be well taken care of and he was left among the remaining people of Judah, once again fulfilling God’s promise to keep him from harm.
Gedaliah was appointed as governor and promised that the remaining people would be treated well, but some of the people plotted together to kill him, after which they asked Jeremiah if they should flee to Egypt to avoid Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath. (39:7-42:6)
After 10 days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and he told the remnant that if they remained in Judah the Lord would “build you up and not pull you down” (42:10), but if they did flee to Egypt, then “the sword that you fear shall overtake you there.” (42:16)
They accused Jeremiah of lying and forcibly took Jeremiah to Egypt with them (43:1-7) While there, Jeremiah repeatedly told them that Nebuchadnezzar would conquer Egypt and they would all be consumed. (44)
In Chapters 45-51, Jeremiah prophesies God’s coming judgment on Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, and finally on Babylon.
But the Lord, once again, promises to protect Jeremiah: “But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all the places to which you may go.” (45:5)
Jeremiah prophesies the fall of Babylon in Chapter 50 at the hands of a people from “out of the north” (50:3) which were the Persians in 539 B.C..
At that time, “In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “The children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; with continual weeping they shall come, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’” (50:4-5)
This is a reference to the New Covenant that Jesus would bring forth in His first coming: “In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.” (50:20)
In Chapter 51, Jeremiah prophesies again about the destruction of Babylon as a sign to Israel and Judah that they, “have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord of hosts.” (51:5)
Through Jeremiah, the Lord tells the captives in Babylon to flee (51:6) and return “each to his own country. for “the Lord has brought about our vindication.” (51:10)
The Book of Jeremiah ends in Chapter 52 with a more detailed accounting of the fall of Jerusalem.
Gospel of Grace 