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Book 24 of 66 · Prophets

Jeremiah

For forty years a young prophet warns Jerusalem that its temple will not save it if it keeps cheating workers and oppressing the poor. No one listens. The city falls. In the ruins, he buys a field and speaks of a new covenant written on the heart.

The big idea

In short: don’t brag about your brains, strength, or money. Brag that you know God, who acts with “lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness” (9:23–24). And knowing God looks like this: “He judged the cause of the poor and needy… was not this to know me?” (22:16).

Jeremiah is the prophet who tells the truth when it costs him everything. He is beaten, jailed, and thrown into a muddy pit.

The rule underneath: Law 1 · God first

Love God with everything. You are not the owner.

Keep it: Your life has one center, and everything else finds its place.
Break it: Money, power, or people become your god, and they let you down.

Shows up in: Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Mark, 1 Corinthians

Other rules in this book: Work honestly, Protect the weakest, Keep your word

Live it: Playbook 01 · How to be a person

23Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.Jeremiah 9:23-24 · KJV

At a glance

What it is
A book of prophecy, stories, and personal complaints. 52 chapters, the longest book in the Bible by word count.
Who wrote it
Jeremiah, a priest’s son from Anathoth, dictated much of it to his scribe (writing helper) Baruch (36:4). Later editors arranged it. debated
When
About 627–580 BC, from King Josiah to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC and after (1:2–3).
Two versions
The old Greek translation is about one-seventh shorter and in a different order. Dead Sea Scroll copies show both forms existed.
Why it matters
Its promise of a “new covenant” (31:31) gave the New Testament its name; “testament” means covenant.
Read it in
About 4½ hours.

What it says

1 · The call. God says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee” (1:5). Jeremiah answers, “I cannot speak: for I am a child” (1:6). God sends him anyway.

2–20 · Warnings. Jeremiah stands at the temple gate. People keep chanting, “The temple of the LORD,” as if the building will protect them (7:4). He tells them it will protect them only if they stop oppressing “the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow” (7:6). Otherwise it is “a den of robbers” (7:11). Leaders say “Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (6:14). Jeremiah is beaten and put in the stocks (20:2). He curses the day he was born (20:14), yet the word is “as a burning fire shut up in my bones” (20:9).

21–29 · Kings and exiles. He tells a king, “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness… that useth his neighbour’s service without wages” (22:13). To the first exiles in Babylon he writes: build houses, plant gardens, and “seek the peace of the city” where you live (29:7). The exile will last seventy years (29:10).

30–33 · Hope. God will make “a new covenant,” and “write it in their hearts” (31:31–33). While Babylon’s army surrounds the city, Jeremiah buys a family field for seventeen shekels (32:9). It is a bet that people will own land here again.

34–52 · The fall. The rich free their slaves as the law requires, then take them back (34:8–11). Jeremiah is thrown into a muddy cistern and rescued by an African official, Ebed-melech (38:6–13). Jerusalem falls (39; 52). Against his warning, survivors flee to Egypt and take him with them (43).

Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;Jeremiah 22:13 · KJV
Go deeper
  • Original words. Hesed, “lovingkindness” (9:24), means loyal love that keeps its promises. Shalom, “peace” (29:7), means whole, well, and thriving, not just the absence of war.
  • Structure. The book is not in time order. Poems of warning (1–25), stories about Jeremiah (26–45), words against the nations (46–51), and the fall of Jerusalem (52). His personal complaints to God are scattered through 11–20.
  • How the laws interlock. Law 1 is defined by Law 4: to know God is to judge “the cause of the poor” (22:16). Law 7 is named directly: unpaid wages (22:13). Law 6 breaks when the slaves are freed and taken back (34:15–17). Law 9 appears in the field bought during the siege (32).

Hard parts

“I know the thoughts that I think toward you” (29:11)

What it says “Thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (29:11). It is written to exiles, and it comes right after “after seventy years” (29:10).

The rule underneath God first. Trust God in a long, hard wait.

What people added Today the verse is often quoted as a personal promise of success. Others stress its setting: a promise to a whole people, for their grandchildren, after seventy years in exile. Most readers see a real promise, with a longer timeline than the popular use suggests.

“The heart is deceitful above all things” (17:9)

What it says “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (17:9).

The rule underneath Tell the truth, including about yourself.

What people added Some traditions use this verse as a key text for human sinfulness. Others note the book also promises a new heart (31:33). Readers weigh the two differently.

Jeremiah’s anger

What it says Jeremiah says God deceived him (20:7) and asks God to take revenge on his enemies (18:21–23).

The rule underneath Tell the truth, even to God.

What people added Some readers see the prayers as honest pain, kept in the Bible as a model of real prayer. Others find the requests for revenge a problem. The text reports them without comment.

Translation notes that change meaning

  • 20:7 “thou hast deceived me.” The Hebrew can mean “persuaded” or “enticed.” It is a strong word.
  • The order of chapters. In Greek-based Bibles, the chapters against the nations (46–51) come in the middle of the book.

Where it leads

One thing to do

This week

Seek the peace of your city

Jeremiah told exiles to work for the good of the city they didn’t choose (29:7). This week, do one thing for your town that no one pays you for: pick up trash, help a neighbor, show up at a local meeting, or support a local shelter. Write in your journal what you did.

How to read it. Read 1, 7, 20, 29, 31–32, and 38. Then read the rest slowly; it is not in time order.