Introduction

What is the Book of Jeremiah About?

Read this 3-minute introduction to help you find your bearings in the Bible story, and be inspired to read Jeremiah!

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Historical Context
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Accordion Content

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet c. 627 BC, when he was young (Jeremiah 1:6). He served for more than 40 years (Jeremiah 1:2–3). Jeremiah had a difficult life. His messages of repentance delivered at the temple were not well received (Jeremiah 7:1–8:3; 26:1–11). His hometown plotted against him (Jeremiah 11:18–23), and he endured much persecution (Jeremiah 20:1–6; 37:11–38:13; 43:1–7). At God’s command, he never married (Jeremiah 16:1–4). Although he preached God’s Word faithfully, he apparently had only two converts: Baruch, his scribe (Jeremiah 32:12; 36:1–4; 45:1–5); and Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian eunuch who served the king (Jeremiah 38:7–13; 39:15–18). Though the book does not reveal the time or place of Jeremiah’s death, he probably died in Egypt, where he had been taken by his countrymen against his will after the fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 43:1–7). He most likely did not live to see the devastation he mentions in chapters 46–51. 

From Bibles.net: Remember that the ultimate author of every book of the Bible is the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). He has written this book to equip you for life, to help you know the true God, and to give you hope (2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 15:4). The Holy Spirit wrote Jeremiah for your good and to lead you into joy.

Jeremiah’s ministry spanned more than 40 years, from his call to be a prophet in 627 BC through the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC and extending into the early years of the exile. His scribe Baruch recorded Jeremiah’s messages and prophecies, likely compiled in their final form by 550 BC. King Josiah (640–609 BC), the last faithful king, instituted a number of reforms, but they were not enough to turn Judah from the path of destruction. Caught in the power struggle between Egypt and Babylon, Judah struggled to maintain its independence. In 605 BC Babylon took the first wave of exiles (including Daniel and his friends; Daniel 1:1–7), and deported a second group in 597 BC (including Ezekiel; Ezekiel 1:1–3). The final straw came in 587/586 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, destroyed the city and its temple, and took a large number of exiles back to Babylon. Jeremiah was among those left in Jerusalem. But when a group of Judeans killed the Babylonian-appointed governor, Gedaliah, those responsible fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah and Baruch with them against their will. Jeremiah continued his prophetic ministry there, prophesying against the sins of Judah, Egypt, Babylon, and other nations, and presumably he died there as well.

—Matthew S. Harmon

Source: Content taken from Jeremiah: A 12-Week Study © 2016 by Matthew S. Harmon. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Jeremiah lived when little Israel was tossed around by three great super-powers: Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south, and Babylon to the east. He served—and suffered—through the administrations of three kings: Josiah the reformer, Jehoiakim the despot, and Zedekiah the puppet. He was a prophet during the cold November winds of Judah’s life as a nation, right up to the time God’s people were deported to Babylon. Jeremiah himself was exiled to Egypt, where he died.

—Philip Graham Ryken

Source: Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Unless otherwise indicated, this content is adapted from the ESV Global Study Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2012 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Books

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Jeremiah by Philip Ryken

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Jeremiah Dictionary

As you read through Jeremiah, you might come across words and ideas that are foreign to you. Here are a few definitions you will want to know! Note that this dictionary was created for the New International Version (NIV) Bible.

A powerful and aggressive nation, the most powerful Middle Eastern empire from the tenth century BC through most of the seventh century. Nineveh was the capital city. Assyria conquered Israel and took its inhabitants captive.

A Hebrew word that means “master.” Baal (plural, Baalim) was the name of many false gods worshiped by the people of Canaan. They thought the Baalim ruled their land, crops, and animals. When the Israelites came to the Promised Land, each area of the land had its own Baal god. Names of places were often combined with the name “Baal” to indicate ownership (Baal-Hermon shows that Hermon belonged to Baal). Eventually, Baal became the name for the chief male god of the Canaanites. They believed that Baal brought the sun and the rain and made the crops grow. The Israelites were often tempted to worship Baal, something God had told them they were never to do.

The capital city and the country that was one of the major political and cultural centers of the ancient world. The city of Babylon was located at the junction of the Euphrates River and major east-west caravan routes. For nearly 1,000 years, until the rise of Assyria in the ninth century BC, Babylon dominated much of the Middle East. Near the end of the seventh century BC, Babylon regained its independence and for nearly 100 years asserted its influence throughout the region and was a constant threat to the kingdom of Judah, finally resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of Judah’s leading citizens. Babylon was captured by the Persians in 539 BC and then continued to decline, until it was destroyed by the Greek army under Alexander the Great.

The 70-year period when Jews were in exile in Babylon.

An agreement. In the ancient Near East, sometimes covenants were made between two people or groups of people. Both sides decided what the agreement would be. However, in the Bible, the word usually refers to agreements between God and people, when God decides what will be done and the people agree to live by the covenant. The old covenant of law set standards of behavior in order to please God. The new covenant of grace presents God’s forgiveness based on faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

(1) A request that harm come to someone; (2) blaspheme. In the Bible, curse does not mean to swear or to use bad language. When a person cursed something, he or she wished evil or harm to come to it. When God cursed something, he declared judgment on something.

An order or law given by a king or ruler. A decree was often read in a public place so that many people would hear the new law.

Someone who has been made to leave his or her country and live somewhere else. The Jews were exiles in Babylon for 70 years.

(1) To be certain about the things we cannot see or to trust someone because of who he or she is. For example, a Christian has faith that Jesus is God’s Son. (2) The whole message about Jesus Christ—that he is God’s Son and that he came to take the punishment for our sin so that we may become members of God’s family. This describes the faith of a Christian.

A time when there is not enough food to keep people and animals alive. Famines can be caused by lack of rain, wars, insects that eat crops, and bad storms.

A statue or other image of a god that is made by people and then worshiped as if it had the power of God. Idols are often made of wood, stone, or metal. Sometimes the Bible calls anything that takes the place of God in a person’s life an idol. God tells us not to worship idols but, rather, to worship only him.

A mixture of spices held together with thick, sticky juice that comes from trees and plants. Incense is burned to make a sweet smell. In the tabernacle and temple, incense was burned on a small golden altar to worship God.

The most important city of Bible times. Jerusalem was the capital of the united kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. The temple was built in Jerusalem, so many people traveled to the city to worship God. In 587 BC, Jerusalem was captured and mostly destroyed by Babylonian armies. The city was rebuilt when the Jews returned after 70 years of exile in Babylon. Jesus taught in the city of Jerusalem, was crucified outside the city wall, was buried near the city, and then rose again. The first Christian church began in Jerusalem after the Holy Spirit came to the believers there.

(1) One of the sons of Jacob and Leah. (2) The descendants of Jacob and Leah’s son of the same name, who became the tribe of Judah. (3) The southern kingdom when the Israelites divided into two separate countries after the death of King Solomon. (The northern kingdom was called Israel.)

Among the Jews, a man who offered prayers and sacrifices to God for the people. Priests led the public worship services at the tabernacle and later at the temple. Often the priests also taught the Law of God to the people. The priests of Israel were all descendants of Aaron’s family. All Christians are also priests (see 1 Peter 2:9). We are to help others learn about and worship God.

Men and women in the Old and New Testaments chosen by God to tell his messages to people. Also refers to the seventeen Old Testament books written by prophets.

A small part that is left. In the Old Testament, remnant usually refers to the few Israelite people who remained faithful worshipers of God after their exile in Babylon.

To turn around and go in the opposite direction. In the Bible, repent means feeling sorrow for wrongdoing, stopping the wrong action and doing what God says is right. Repentance always involves making a change away from sin and toward God.

(1) To bring back; to establish again. (2) To bring back to a former or original condition. (3) To return something lost, stolen, or taken. The return of the Jews from being captives in Babylon is referred to as their restoration.

Thinking and doing what is correct (or right) and holy. God is righteous because he does only what is perfect and holy. A person who has accepted Jesus as Savior is looked at by God as being free from the guilt of sin, so God sees that person as being righteous. People who are members of God’s family show their love for him by doing what is correct and holy, living in righteous ways.

(1) An expert in understanding the Jewish law. Scribes taught the people God’s laws. They also copied the Old Testament writings onto scrolls. Ezra was a scribe. By New Testament times, the scribes often served as judges in Jewish courts because they knew so much about the law. (2) A writer or secretary who earned his living writing letters or important papers for other people.

A long strip of papyrus or parchment that has writing on it. A stick was attached to each end of the strip so that it could be rolled up to make it easier to read, store, and carry.

The permanent place in Jerusalem where the Jews worshiped God. The first temple was built by King Solomon and the people by following the instructions God had given Solomon’s father, King David. The temple was a very beautiful place. It was destroyed and rebuilt twice. In AD 64, the temple was destroyed again but was not rebuilt.

Very great anger.

(1) A wooden bar that goes over the necks of two animals, usually oxen. The yoke holds the animals together when they are pulling something such as a cart or plow. (2) Two oxen yoked together. (3) A word picture for any burden or demand. Slavery, imprisonment, taxes, or unfair laws may be called yokes. (4) A partnership.

Dictionary Source

This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. 

Tough Questions
from Jeremiah

We have found answers to some tough questions that we anticipate may arise as you read Jeremiah. We know we can’t answer every question you will have; therefore, we have written this article, so you know how to find answers for your kids: How Do I Answer Tough Questions About the Bible?

Insights about Jeremiah

The following insights are from pastors and scholars who have spent significant time studying the book of Jeremiah.

The book of Jeremiah is the longest book in the Old Testament. Jeremiah was God’s spokesman during the decline and fall of the southern kingdom [Israel], Judah, and Jerusalem. Among the prophets, not one had a more difficult task than that of Jeremiah, who stood alone for God in the midst of the apostasy of his own people. No other prophet bares his soul to his readers as does Jeremiah. Although Jeremiah announced the coming destruction of Judah, he looked beyond this judgment to a day when everyone would know the Lord personally through the forgiveness of his or her sins (see Jeremiah 31:31-34). This new kind of relationship with the Lord would be a part of the “new covenant” the Lord would establish with his people (Jeremiah 31:31).  

—Henrietta Mears 

Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The prophet asks people over 100 times to “turn around” or “repent.” He promises that when people turn from their sins and return to God they will receive forgiveness and healing. He firmly believes that God will renew a repenting people, and he mourns the lack of repentance in his day (Jeremiah 8:18–22). God comforts him with the knowledge that repentance and renewal would eventually come (Jeremiah 33:14–26).

—ESV Study Bible 

Source: Content taken from the ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2008 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

It may be helpful to think of the book of Jeremiah as a notebook or scrapbook of things written by the prophet about his ministry. Jeremiah includes enough “news clippings” to piece together the story of his life, but just as important are the prophetic poems he wrote to address the spiritual needs of his generation and to express the emotions of his own suffering soul. The list of subgenres shows how diverse the anthology is: call narrative, covenant lawsuit, jeremiad (a long recitation of mournful complaints), doom poem, satire, sermon, oracle of judgment, oracle of salvation, memoir, lament or complaint, soliloquy, prophetic object lesson, predictive prophecy, messianic prophecy, epistle, prayer, royal audience, rescue narrative, murder story, and judgment narrative.

The two main unifying elements in the book are the person of Jeremiah himself and the city that he loved, Jerusalem. Reading the book of Jeremiah, one watches the prophet in action, following the broad contours of his biography in the years leading up to and following the cataclysmic fall of Jerusalem (to trace the prophet’s story line, see especially chapters 1, 4, 7, 11–13, 18–20, 24–29, 32, 34–43). At the same time, one sees through windows into the prophet’s soul and witnesses the grief that he suffered in watching the people he loved persist in sin and finally fall under the judgment of God.

—ESV Study Bible

Source: Content taken from the ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2008 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

It was not always easy for Jeremiah to speak God’s words. His commission was not only dangerous, it was often depressing. We have already been given a clue that the book of Jeremiah does not have a happy ending. It ends with the people of Jerusalem being sent into exile. Thus the book of Jeremiah is a tragedy rather than a comedy. It is about the unraveling of a nation. It is the sad story of the decline of God’s people from faith to idolatry to exile.

—Philip Graham Ryken

Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

In Jeremiah’s prophecy of the new covenant, Jeremiah explicitly says, “It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers, when I led them by the hand out of Egypt” (Jeremiah 31:32 ESV). How will it be different? For one thing, it will be unbreakable (Jeremiah 31:32). For another, all the members of that covenant will be regenerate, the law written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Yet another difference will be that the covenant will not operate according to natural lines of birth and descent, but through spiritual birth (Jeremiah 31:29-30). Here the discontinuity between the new covenant and the Mosaic covenant is enormous: a covenant of grace, not works; a covenant that regenerates rather than kills; a covenant entered into through spiritual rather than natural birth. And yet for all this discontinuity, Jeremiah is clear that this new covenant is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, made to their forefather Abraham.

—Michael Lawrence

Source: Content taken from Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church by Michael Lawrence ©2010. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Quote retrieved from Grace Quotes at gracequotes.org. 

God delivers his people. Just as the Lord promised to deliver Jeremiah from his many enemies (Jeremiah 1:8, 19), so too Jesus Christ delivers us from our greatest enemies—sin, death, and the Devil. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has freed us from our sins (Romans 6:1–11), removed the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:51–57), and crushed the head of the great serpent, Satan (Genesis 3:15; Luke 4:1–13; Colossians 2:15). God’s promise of deliverance sustained Jeremiah amid his suffering. How much more should we draw encouragement from what God has done for us in Jesus amid our own suffering?

—Matthew S. Harmon

Source: Content taken from Jeremiah: A 12-Week Study © 2016 by Matthew S. Harmon. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

The only hope for the sinful human heart is to be supernaturally changed. Jeremiah 31:33 gives the solution. Where sin was once inscribed on the hearts of his people, God provides a new inscription: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (ESV). Jesus came to inaugurate a new covenant so that sins could be forgiven and sinners could be born again (John 3:5). As “desperately wicked” people, we cannot reform our hearts by our own effort. The only solution is for God to make our hearts new, washed clean from sin and fundamentally reoriented toward pleasing him.

—Got Questions

Source: “What does it mean that the heart is desperately wicked in Jeremiah 17:9?,” Got Questions Ministries, accessed May 25, 2023, [https://www.gotquestions.org/heart-desperately-wicked.html]

If you have never entered into a love relationship with God, he is courting you at this moment. He invites you to enter into a love that will never let you go. He calls you to leave behind the sins that carry you here, there, and everywhere in the spiritual desert. He invites you to embrace Jesus Christ.

If you have already entered the romance of redemption, consider whether you love God the way you did when you first “got married.” If not, do not try to dance around this betrayal. If you are not passionately in love with God, then you have been behaving like a floozy, spiritually speaking. But your divine husband still wants you back. More amazing still, he can restore the passion and purity of your love for him.

There is a hint of such restoration later in Jeremiah’s book.

The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! (Jeremiah 31:3–4 ESV; cf. Jeremiah 31:21)

It is amazing enough that God still considers Israel his bride. But there is more. His cleansing is so complete that he restores her to passion and purity.

How can he do that? What detergent can wash away the stain of sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV; cf. Revelation 21:2, 9). Jesus Christ died on the cross to remove the promiscuity and restore the virginity of his spiritual bride.

—Philip Graham Ryken

Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

The only thing Jeremiah could think of to do with his doubts and troubles was to take them to the Lord in prayer. Chapter 20 is the prayer of a suffering believer. Imagine Jeremiah in solitary confinement, weakened with physical pain and exhausted by emotional turmoil. Yet the very first words out of his mouth are an invocation to almighty God. “O Lord,” he cries. “O Lord!” God invites us to take our troubles straight to him. This is what godly people have done throughout history. It is what Job did on the ash heap, when he was grieving the death of his family (Job 3). It is what David did in the cave, when he was hiding from King Saul (Psalm 57). It is what Jonah did in the belly of the whale, when he tried to run away from God (Jonah 2). It is even what Jesus did on the cross, when he was suffering for our sins. “My God, my God,” he said (Matthew 27:46 ESV). So whenever you are in trouble, take your troubles to a secret place where you can meet with God in prayer. Where else can you open your heart so freely? Who else will comfort you so tenderly? There is no need to hide your troubles. Take them to the Lord in prayer!

—Philip Graham Ryken

Source: Content taken from When Trouble Comes © 2020 by Philip Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

From Bibles.net: We highly recommend this book to anyone who needs comfort in their suffering or wants to know what the Bible says about suffering as a Christian.

Jeremiah’s story is incomplete. Near the end of his book we read, “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 51:64 ESV). Nothing more is said about him. We are not even told that he died. His book just breaks off. And his story does not end happily. Yet from chapter 21 onward we see that Jeremiah regained his hope and faithfully fulfilled his prophetic office in spite of his ongoing suffering. His story teaches us that a saint’s future does not depend on whether he can always avoid protesting against his story or restrain himself from uttering what are blasphemies or near blasphemies. Of course, God’s people must do all they can to avoid such failings. Yet the quality of Jeremiah’s future ultimately hinged on nothing other than the reality of God’s steadfast love for him. Because of his chesed for Jeremiah, “the God who gives endurance and encouragement” (Romans 15:5 NIV) restored Jeremiah’s hope, even though he never gave him earthly peace, security, or happiness…

Biblical faith and hope are grounded in God’s self-revelation that—no matter how dark and hopeless life may now seem—his saints will ultimately know him as “the God of chesed,” for that is indeed his name. As the final verse of Psalm 23 affirms: “Surely your goodness and unfailing love [chesed] will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever” (NLT). And so we can conclude from the stories of these Old Testament saints that the true Christian story is both sobering and encouraging. We, like they, may face seasons of sorrow and suffering so profound that our faith and hope waver and perhaps even seem to die. We may find ourselves protesting against the story we are in and even be tempted to rebel against it. Yet God in his steadfast love will continue to pursue us…

The God who characterizes himself as abounding in chesed—the God who in the New Testament reveals himself as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—cannot deny himself, and so even when our suffering prompts us to lose so much perspective that our faith and hope flicker and seem to die, he will remain faithful as long as we don’t explicitly, decisively, and permanently deny him. To lose faith and hope is nothing like forevermore repudiating the only one who can save us (see Hebrews 6:4–8 and Hebrews 10:28–31 with Acts 4:12 and Romans 10:9–13).[1] Naomi, Job, and Jeremiah didn’t deny their Lord, so all their errors, protests, and failings were forgiven them.

[1] Peter impulsively denied his Lord but repented afterward (Matthew 26:30–35, 69–75).

—Mark Talbot

Source: Content taken from When the Stars Disappear © 2020 by Mark Talbot. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

From Bibles.net: We highly recommend this book to anyone who needs comfort in their suffering or wants to know what the Bible says about suffering as a Christian.

Jeremiah Playlist

Discover music inspired by the message and content of the book of Jeremiah.

You’ll Find Your Way
by Andrew Peterson | Folk
My First Love
by Mandisa feat. Jeremy Camp | Pop 
First Love
by Jonathan David Helser and Melissa Helser | Contemporary
Who Else (Behind the Song)
by Bethany Barnard | Pop
Sovereign Over Us
by Michael W. Smith | Praise & Worship
Your Labor Is Not in Vain 
by The Porter’s Gate feat. Paul Zach | Chill & Relaxing
We’ve Got This Hope
by Ellie Holcomb | Folk 
My Worth Is Not in What I Own
by Keith & Kristyn Getty | Hymn 
We Must Remember
by Jeremy Camp | Contemporary 
Jesus Paid It All
by The Worship Initiative and Shane & Shane | Praise & Worship
Broken Cisterns
by Kate Graham | Contemporary 
Bye Bye Babylon
by Elevation Worship feat. Valley Boys | Indie
Oh My Soul
by Casting Crowns | Contemporary 
More Songs