Old Testament book

Jeremiah

Jeremiah is the word of God through the weeping prophet, who pleaded with Judah to repent in her final decades before the Babylonian exile. Rejected and persecuted, he foretold judgment, yet promised a New Covenant, written on the heart, fulfilled in Christ.

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Book
24 of 66
Testament
Old Testament
Section
Major Prophets
Chapters
52
Author
Jeremiah (with his scribe Baruch)
Written
Approximately 627-580 BC

Purpose & theme

Jeremiah is the record of God’s word through “the weeping prophet,” who ministered for some forty years during the final, tragic decades of the kingdom of Judah, right up to and beyond the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. For decade after decade Jeremiah pleaded with a stubborn people to repent of their idolatry and injustice and to return to the LORD, warning that judgment was coming and, when it would not be averted, that submission to Babylon was now God’s appointed path. His message was overwhelmingly rejected; he was mocked, beaten, imprisoned, and thrown into a cistern, and he poured out his anguish in some of the most personal laments in Scripture. Through him God insists that He is patient and just, that persistent sin brings real consequences, and that no false confidence, not even in the temple, can substitute for a changed heart.

Yet Jeremiah is not only judgment; at its center shines one of the brightest promises in the Old Testament. God pledges to make “a new covenant” with His people, one not like the broken covenant of Sinai but written on the heart, in which He will forgive their sin and be their God (31:31-34). He promises a return after seventy years, a future and a hope, and the coming of “the LORD our righteousness,” the righteous Branch of David. Jeremiah thus holds together the severity and the kindness of God: judgment on covenant-breaking, and a redemption so deep it can only be fulfilled in the new covenant Christ would seal in His own blood.

Chapter guide

All 52 chapters. Open any one for the full study.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52

Study sections

OverviewRead the book’s purpose, its call to repentance, and the New Covenant.Chapter summariesBrowse a one-line summary for every chapter in Jeremiah.Key peopleMeet the prophet, his scribe, and the kings of a falling nation.ThemesExplore the theological themes that shape the book.Word studiesDig into the key Hebrew words that carry the book’s meaning.Key versesRead the seven verses that capture the heart of Jeremiah.Maps & timelinesSee the geography of Jeremiah and the dated timeline of events.Study notesReview key concepts, application, and questions for reflection.Related passagesTrace the connections from Jeremiah across the whole Bible.

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