The prophet Jeremiah, whose name means "God (Yahweh) establishes (or exalts)", was a priest living in a little town, Anathoth, in the tribe of Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem. Born about 65O B.C. he exercised his prophetic ministry from 629 B.C. until the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
1. Jeremiah is a young man, probably in his early twenties, and as reluctant to become God’s spokesman as Moses before him. But he had no doubt that his message was from God. "The word of the Lord came to me" runs as a refrain throughout the book, from first to last. Jeremiah 1:1-19.
GOD SPEAKS TO JUDAH AND JERUSALEM.
1. God charges his people with unfaithfulness. The heathen nations
are at least loyal to their idols. Not so the people of the living God. Their offence is
set before them. Like a wife turned prostitute, the nation has run after foreign gods.
Jeremiah 2:1-37 & 3:1-10.
2. Even now the Lord will save his people if they repent. He will bring them back from
exile. Jeremiah 3:11-25 & 4:1-4.
3. Destruction and devastation are about to fall on Judah. Jeremiah is given a preview on
the nation’s collapse which fills him with horror. Jeremiah 4:5-31.
4. God searches in vain for a vestige of truth and justice among his people. The nation is
steeped in idolatry; happy with a rotten society; untroubled by conscience. God has no
option but to punish. Jeremiah 5:1-31
5. All God’s warnings have fallen on deaf ears. His call to men to "walk the
good way" has met with refusal. So God has rejected his people and turned them over
to the invading armies. Even Jerusalem will be besieged. Jeremiah 6:1-30.
6. The people had a superstitious faith in the temple. They thought that Jerusalem could
not fall because of the temple; but they were wrong. God knows what is in people’s
hearts; he knows the difference between religious ritual and real religion. Jeremiah
7:1-34 & 8:1-3.
7. The people refuse to repent, and the men of religion aid and abet them with their
smooth words. The scribes (professional interpreters of God’s law) the wise men who
applied God’s laws to the practical matters of life, prophets and priests, are all
alike motivated by self-interest. Jeremiah 8:4-17.
8. Jeremiah shares God’s grief at his people’s sin and its tragic consequences.
Society is sick as a direct result of abandoning God and his laws. Jeremiah 8:18-22 &
9:1-26.
9. The idols man creates - no matter how elaborate – are lifeless, powerless,
motionless, speechless. Not so the God of Israel. Jeremiah 10:1-25.
10. The terms of God’s covenant with his people, made at Sinai, are still in force.
By persistent disobedience to God’s law, and by idol-worship, Judah has broken that
covenant. Jeremiah 11:1-17.
11. Jeremiah’s message aroused such intense anger that men of Anathoth, his home
town, were prepared to kill him. The discovery leads Jeremiah to question God about the
way evil men get on in the world. In answer God tells him that there is worse to come.
Jeremiah 11:18-23 & 12:1-17.
12. God compares the rotting of a loin-cloh with the rot in Judah. Jeremiah got no joy
from announcing God’s vengeance. Jeremiah 13:1-27.
13. There is a severe drought. The people once again appeal to God. But God will not
listen. Neither will he listen to Jeremiah’s pleas that they have been duped by the
lies of false prophets. Jeremiah 14:1-22 & 15:1-21.
14. Jeremiah is forbidden to marry. By remaining single, in a society where this was
almost unheard of, Jeremiah becomes a living symbol of God’s message. Very soon there
will be the most terrible famine and slaughter in Jerusalem. This is no time, no place, to
raise a family. Jeremiah 16:1-21.
15. Judah’s sin is indelible. Yet God still sets the alternatives before them. If
only the people will listen. Disregard for the day of rest is symptomatic of the
nation’s general disobedience. Jeremiah 17:1-27.
16. Like the human potter, God has the right to remould the spoilt nation. More plots
against Jeremiah. Jeremiah 18:1-23.
17. Another acted parable. God will break the city and the people as surely and
irreparably as the jug which the prophet shatters before their eyes. Jeremiah 19:1-13.
18. Jeremiah in the stocks. With hands and feet made fast he pours out his heart to God.
Jeremiah was not thick-skinned. It hurt him to be hated and ridiculed. Jeremiah 19:14-15
& 20:1-18.
1. The date is about 586 B.C. when Judah was involved in her final
struggle with Babylon. King Zedekiah turns to the prophet hoping for a word of comfort.
But none is forthcoming. The only hope lies in surrender. Jeremiah 21:1-14.
2. This prophecy is earlier than the last chapter. King Jehoiakim reigned from 609 to 598
B.C., the year Jerusalem first surrendered to Babylon, and the young king was taken into
exile with the first batch of captives. Jeremiah 22:1-30.
3. The government and religious leaders alike receive rebuke. Misrule, and the lies
pronounced in God’s name, will not go unpunished. With such a message against men of
religion is it not surprising that Jeremiah encountered bitter hatred. Jeremiah 23:1-40.
4. The date is sometime after 597. The exiles are the pick of the bunch of God’s
people. (Ezekiel was among these first captives and Daniel had been taken to Babylon
earlier still.) And God is shaping a future for them. For those who remain in Judah there
is no future. Jeremiah 24:1-10.
5. The year is 605. when Nebuchadnezzar routed the Egyptians. For twenty-three years
Jeremiah has been repeating God’s message, and still the people remain unmoved. Now
he tells them that the city will fall and they will serve the Babylonians for seventy
years. Jeremiah 25:1-38.
6. Jeremiah’s life in danger. It was one of those times when it was dangerous to
declare the plain truth and Jeremiah’s straight speaking almost cost him his life.
Jeremiah 26:1-24.
7. It is 597: the Babylonians have taken the first captives from Jerusalem and placed
Zedakiah on the throne. Jeremiah walks the streets wearing a wooden yoke in token
submission to Babylon. It was not a popular message but time proved the truth of
Jeremiah’s words. Jeremiah 27:1-22 & 28:1-17.
8. Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles. His letters tell them that their exile will last
for seventy years then they will return. Even from far away Babylon his enemies make
trouble for him. Jeremiah 29:1-32.
1. The promise of a new covenant. Jeremiah looks forward. At the
nation’s darkest hour God promises his people a future. They will be saved and be
restored. A new covenant will replace the old one. In the short term Jeremiah is referring
to the return from exile - in the long term he is referring to the new covenant of Christ.
Jeremiah 30:1-24 & 31:1-40.
2. Jeremiah’s home town is under enemy occupation so, on God’s instructions, he
buys land in Jerusalem. Everyone must have got to know of this transaction and it must
have given reason for hope in a future for Judah. Nevertheless Jeremiah is puzzled at
buying the land. In answer God outlines his immediate, and ulitmate purpose for the
nation. Jeremiah 32:1-44.
3. God’s unbreakable promise. The theme is still future restoration. Where God has
destroyed, he will rebuild. Joy and prosperity will return. It will happen as surely as
night follows day. Jeremiah 33:1-26.
1. The date is 588/7. After receiving God’s message King
Zedekiah issues an order to free all slaves, hoping that this will win God’s favour.
But their owners quickly go back on it, and God condemns them as law breakers. Jeremiah
34:1-22.
2. The obedience of the Rechabites. (We are taken back ten years to the earlier siege of
Jerusalem). The Rechabites were Bedouin descendants of Jehonadab, who took God’s part
against Baal-worshipers (see 2 Kings 10:15-23). Fear of the invading army brings them to
the city where their obedience to a pledge made two hundred years before puts the people
of God to shame. Jeremiah 35:1-19.
3. A very dramatic biblical occurence. Jeremiah is banned from the temple. But the word of
God cannot be stifled. The message is written and is read aloud in the hearing of the
people, the rulers and the king himself. The king may burn the scroll but he cannot
destroy the message it conveys or prevent its fulfilment. Jeremiah and Baruch write the
words again. Jeremiah 36:1-32.
4. The year is 588 B.C. Zedekiah is king. Jeremiah’s advice to surrender lands him in
deep trouble. He is flung into prison as a traitor. Only through the prompt action of a
good friend and the intervention of the king, is his life saved. Zedekiah is anxious to
know God’s word but lacks faith and courage to act on it. So Jeremiah’s terrible
vision becomes reality. But even in the midst of judgement God does not lose sight of
individuals - he saves the life of Ebed-Melech. Jeremiah 37:1-21 & 38:1-28.
5. Jerusalem falls - Jeremiah’s choice. God’s warnings finally give way to
judgement and Jeremiah is the only man to have any say in his future. Offered a place of
honour at the Babylonian court he chooses instead to stay with the have-nots in the land
of Judah. Jeremiah 39:1-18 & 40:1-6.
6. The governer, Gedaliah, is murdered. The people, fearing reprisals make ready to escape
to Egypt. Jeremiah 40:7-16 & 41:1-18.
7. For all their declared willingness to obey God’s word, when the message came
telling them to stay put, they disobeyed. Egypt seemed safer. They take Jeremiah and
Baruch with them. As God had predicted the long arm of Nebuchadnezzar reached down into
Egypt in 568 B.C. Jeremiah 42:1-22 & 43:1-7.
8. Jeremiah warns against idolatry but despite all that has happened the people refuse to
listen. They will go back to worshipping the ‘queen of heaven;’ (the moon) and
all will be well again! (After this we hear no more of Jeremiah. Tradition has it that he
was stoned to death in Egypt.) Jeremiah 43:8-13 & 44:1-30.
9. This short chapter refers to the writing of the scroll (see Jeremiah 36:1-32.) Jeremiah
45:1-5.
1. Verses 1-12 describe the defeat at Carchemish in 605 B.C. Verses
13-26 forecast Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt in 568 B.C. Jeremiah 46:1-26.
2. The final verses of chapter 46 give words of comfort for Israel: ".behold I will
save you from afar off". Jeremiah 46:27-28.
3. A prophecy against the Philistines. Calamity is predicted from the Babylonians in the
north. Jeremiah 47:1-7.
4. A prophecy against Moab. Jeremiah 48:1-47.
5. A prophecy against Ammon. Jeremiah 49:1-6.
6. A prophecy against Edom. Jeremiah 49:7-22.
7. A prophecy against Damascus. Jeremiah 49:23-27.
8. A prophecy against Kedar. Jeremiah 49:28-33.
9. A prophecy against Elam. Jeremiah 49:34-39.
10. Jeremiah’s impressive prophecy was sent with the delegation that went to Babylon
six years before the fall of Jerusalem. It was given a public reading then thrown into the
Euphratesin the same way that Babylon itself would sink and be destroyed. Babylon was
God’s instrument to punish his people, but God cannot ignore evil; judgement must
always come. Jeremiah 50:1-46 & 51:1-64.
1. This chapter details the fall of Jerusalem in the ninth year of the reign of King Zedekiah. It also tells of the pillaging of the Temple and gives numbers of Jews taken into exile. It finishes with the story of Evil-Merodach’s kindness to Jehoiachin who was released from prison, allowed to eat at the Kings table and given a regular allowance. (See 2 Kings 24:8-17.) Jeremiah 52:1-34.