The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter by Chapter

We want to take you through the book of Jeremiah chapter by chapter. In our Isaiah study we saw the prophet who preached before the fall of Jerusalem. Now we come to the prophet who watched it fall. We will tell you what each chapter is about and how it fits into the message of the book. And how it points us to the one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (9:1). He preached for about 40 years. And almost nobody listened. He was beaten. Put in the stocks. Thrown in a pit. Called a traitor. His own family turned on him. But he would not stop. Because the word of God was “as a burning fire shut up in my bones” (20:9). When Jesus asked who men said he was some said “Jeremias” (Matthew 16:14). A man of sorrows. Rejected by his own people. Weeping over Jerusalem. Just like Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).

There are three things we want you to take away from this study. Jeremiah is about a broken covenant. “Which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD” (31:32). Jeremiah is about the one true God. “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king” (10:10). And Jeremiah points to Jesus Christ. The righteous Branch whose name is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (23:6). And the one who would make a new covenant and write his law in our hearts (31:31–33). We will explain these points as we go through the book. But we want you to keep them in mind as we begin.

“The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin” (1:1). Jeremiah was a priest from a small town about 3 miles north of Jerusalem. God called him in the 13th year of king Josiah (1:2). That is around 627 BC. He preached through the reigns of the last 5 kings of Judah. Josiah. Jehoahaz. Jehoiakim. Jehoiachin. And Zedekiah. We met all of them in our 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles studies. He saw Jerusalem burned in 586 BC. And then he was taken down to Egypt against his will. That is the last we hear of him.

Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible by number of words.¹ And it is not in time order. A chapter from the days of Zedekiah may come before a chapter from the days of Jehoiakim. That can be confusing. So we will point out which king is on the throne as we go. Also the Greek Old Testament has a shorter version of Jeremiah with the chapters in a different order.² We will not go into that here. We will be following the order of our English Bibles.

Notice how Jeremiah was written. In chapter 36 God told Jeremiah to write all his words in a book. His scribe Baruch wrote them down as Jeremiah spoke them (36:4). The king cut the scroll up and burned it. So God had Jeremiah write it again. And “there were added besides unto them many like words” (36:32). The word of God cannot be burned up.

We will break the book down like this. The call of Jeremiah (1). Backslidden Israel (2–10). The broken covenant and Jeremiah’s complaints (11–20). Kings and shepherds and 70 years (21–25). Jeremiah on trial (26–29). The new covenant (30–33). The last days of Jerusalem (34–39). After the fall (40–45). And the nations and Babylon (46–52). Then we will put together what Jeremiah teaches about the one God. Just like in our other studies we will be using the KJV for our scripture quotations. And we will let you know where you can find the work of the scholars we reference.

Jeremiah 1: Before I Formed Thee

God knew Jeremiah before he was born. He had a plan for him in the womb. That tells us something about life. A baby in the womb is a person that God knows. Jeremiah said “Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child” (v.6). Most think he was a young man. But God said “Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee” (v.7). “Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth” (v.9). Just like the coal touched the lips of Isaiah. God was not looking for a great speaker. He was looking for someone to carry his words.

His job was “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant” (v.10). 4 words for tearing down. 2 words for building up. That was his ministry. Mostly judgment. But hope at the end.

Then God showed him two things. First a rod of an almond tree (v.11). God said “Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it” (v.12). This is a play on words. The Hebrew for almond is shaqed. The word for hasten or watch is shoqed.³ The almond is the first tree to wake up in the spring. God was awake and watching over his word. Second a seething pot facing from the north (v.13). Evil would come from the north. That was Babylon. God told him they would fight against him. “But they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee” (v.19).

Most of these chapters come from the early years. Some from the days of Josiah. Some from the days of Jehoiakim. They are sermons calling Judah to come back to God.

Jeremiah 2: The Fountain of Living Waters

God remembered when Israel first loved him. “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness” (v.2). Like a young bride. But then she left him. No nation ever changed its gods. Even though their gods were not gods. But Israel did (v.11). Then this.

Two evils. They left the LORD. And they dug their own wells that leak. A cistern is a hole cut in rock to catch rain. A broken one holds nothing. That is every idol. Every thing we chase instead of God. Now notice who the fountain of living waters is. Jesus told the woman at the well “he would have given thee living water” (John 4:10). And he stood up at the feast and cried “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37). The LORD is the fountain of living waters. And Jesus said come unto me and drink. Jesus is the fountain. Then the chapter says Israel was like a wild donkey in heat (v.24). And “according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah” (v.28). A god for every town.

Jeremiah 3: Turn, O Backsliding Children

God had divorced the northern kingdom of Israel for her adultery. And Judah saw it and still did the same thing (vv.8–10). “The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah” (v.11). Judah was worse because she should have learned. But God still called them back. “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you” (v.14). “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (v.15). “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings” (v.22). The word backsliding is used over and over in Jeremiah. It means turning away.

Jeremiah 4: Without Form, and Void

“Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart” (vv.3–4). God wanted their hearts. Not just their flesh. Paul says the same thing. “Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit” (Romans 2:29). Then Jeremiah saw what was coming. The lion out of the north (v.7). He felt it in his body. “My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart” (v.19). Then he saw this. “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light” (v.23). Those are the words of Genesis 1:2. Tohu and bohu. We covered them in our Genesis study. Sin would undo creation. The land would go back to chaos.

Jeremiah 5–6: Peace, Peace; When There Is No Peace

God told Jeremiah to run through the streets of Jerusalem. If he could find one man who did justice and sought the truth God would pardon the city (5:1). He could not find one. Not among the poor. Not among the great (5:4–5). “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so” (5:31). The people liked the lies. In chapter 6 God says “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (6:14). The false prophets put a bandage on cancer. Then God gave them a choice.

Ask for the old paths. And you will find rest for your souls. Jesus said “Come unto me … and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28–29). The old path leads to him. But they said we will not walk in it.

Jeremiah 7: The Temple of the LORD

This is the temple sermon. God told Jeremiah to stand in the gate of the LORD’s house and preach (v.2). We will see what happened to him for it in chapter 26. “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these” (v.4). The people thought God would never let anything happen to Jerusalem because the temple was there. They would steal and murder and commit adultery and worship Baal. Then come and stand in the temple and say we are delivered (vv.9–10).

“Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?” (v.11). Jesus quoted this when he drove out the money changers. “Ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). God told them to go look at Shiloh (v.12). That is where the tabernacle used to be. We saw in our 1 Samuel study that the people took the ark out of Shiloh and lost it to the Philistines. “He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh” (Psalm 78:60). He would do the same to the temple. The children gathered wood. The fathers lit the fire. And the women made cakes to the queen of heaven (v.18). A whole family worshipping an idol together. God even told Jeremiah not to pray for them (v.16).

Jeremiah 8–9: Is There No Balm in Gilead

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (8:20). The time to repent was running out. “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (8:22). Gilead was known for its healing balm. The cure was there. They would not take it. Then Jeremiah wept. “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears” (9:1). Then God said this.

Not wisdom. Not strength. Not money. The only thing worth boasting in is knowing God. Paul quotes it. “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). And Paul says that Christ Jesus “of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Jeremiah 10: The True God

Jeremiah makes fun of idols just like Isaiah did. A man cuts a tree. Covers it with silver and gold. Nails it down so it will not fall over (vv.3–4). “They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go” (v.5). A scarecrow in a cucumber field. “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might” (v.6).

The LORD is the true God. He. Singular. Now notice what John says about Jesus Christ. “This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). There are not two true Gods. Jesus is the true God of Jeremiah 10:10. Then verse 11 is written in Aramaic.⁴ The language of Babylon. It is a message for the nations in their own tongue. “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth.” Then “He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom” (v.12). “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (v.23).

In these chapters we start to see the cost of being a prophet. Mixed in with the sermons are 5 or 6 prayers where Jeremiah pours out his pain to God. Some call them his confessions.⁵

Jeremiah 11–12: A Lamb Brought to the Slaughter

“Hear ye the words of this covenant” (11:2). Israel had broken the covenant God made with them when he brought them out of Egypt (11:10). Then Jeremiah found out the men of his own hometown were plotting to kill him. “But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me” (11:19). They said “Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand” (11:21). Just like the lamb in Isaiah 53. Just like Jesus. Rejected in his own town (Luke 4:29). Jeremiah asked God “Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?” (12:1). God answered with a hard word. “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?” (12:5). It was going to get worse.

Jeremiah 13: The Linen Girdle

God told Jeremiah to buy a linen belt and wear it. Then hide it in a hole in a rock by the Euphrates. After many days he dug it up. “The girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing” (v.7). God said “For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel … but they would not hear” (v.11). Israel was supposed to be close to God. Like a belt. But they went after other gods. So they would rot in Babylon. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (v.23). Sin had become their nature.

Jeremiah 14–15: Thy Words Were Found

There was a drought. Jeremiah prayed. “O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble” (14:8). But God said “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people” (15:1). Even the greatest intercessors could not stop it now. Jeremiah cried “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife” (15:10). But he also said this.

He ate the word. It became part of him. And notice. He was called by the name of the LORD. That is what keeps a man going when everything else is against him.

Jeremiah 16: My Name Is The LORD

God told Jeremiah not to marry or have children (v.2). Because the children born in that land would die. His life was a sermon. Then hope. A day was coming when they would not talk about the God who brought them out of Egypt. They would talk about the God who brought them out of the north (vv.14–15). A new exodus. God would send fishers and hunters to bring them back (v.16). Then the chapter ends with this. “Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD” (v.21). One God. One name.

Jeremiah 17: The Heart Is Deceitful

“Cursed be the man that trusteth in man” (v.5). “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD … For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters” (vv.7–8). That is Psalm 1. Then this.

No man can know the heart. Only the LORD can. Now notice what Jesus said to the church at Thyatira. “And all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works” (Revelation 2:23). Almost the exact words. Jesus said I am he. The LORD who searches the heart and gives every man according to his ways is Jesus. Then the chapter ends with a call to keep the sabbath and carry no burdens through the gates (vv.21–22).

Jeremiah 18–19: The Potter and the Clay

God sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house. “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel” (18:4). “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand” (18:6). If a nation turns from evil God will turn from the judgment. If a nation turns to evil God will turn from the good (18:7–10). The clay was still soft. There was still time. Paul uses this picture in Romans 9:21.

In chapter 19 the clay was hard. God told Jeremiah to buy a clay bottle and take the elders to the valley of the son of Hinnom (19:2). That is where they burned their children to Baal (19:5). We saw in our 2 Kings study that Josiah defiled Topheth so no one could do it again. But they went back to it. He broke the bottle in front of them. “Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again” (19:11). The valley of Hinnom in Hebrew is ge hinnom. That is where the word Gehenna comes from. The word Jesus used for hell.⁶

Jeremiah 20: A Burning Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Pashur the priest heard it. He beat Jeremiah and put him in the stocks overnight (v.2). When he let him out Jeremiah gave him a new name. Magormissabib. Fear on every side (v.3). Then Jeremiah poured out his heart. “O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived” (v.7). He felt tricked. Every day people mocked him. He wanted to quit.

He could not hold it in. The word burned. Then he said “But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one” (v.11). And “Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD” (v.13). And then right after “Cursed be the day wherein I was born” (v.14). Up and down. Faith and despair in the same chapter. Jeremiah was honest with God. You can be too.

Jeremiah 21–22: Write Ye This Man Childless

Chapter 21 jumps ahead to the days of Zedekiah. Babylon was at the gates. Zedekiah sent to ask if God would do a miracle like he did for Hezekiah. God said no. “Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death” (21:8). Surrender to Babylon and live. Stay and die.

Chapter 22 goes through the kings. Shallum is Jehoahaz. He would never come back (22:11–12). Then Jehoiakim. “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness” (22:13). He built himself a palace and did not pay his workers. God compared him to his father Josiah. “He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD” (22:16). To know God is to do right by the poor. Jehoiakim would be “buried with the burial of an ass” (22:19). Then Coniah. That is Jehoiachin. “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD” (22:29). Then this.

He did have children (1 Chronicles 3:17). But none of his seed would sit on the throne. That is a problem. Because Matthew traces the line of Joseph through Jechonias (Matthew 1:11–12, 16). We talked about this in our 2 Kings study. Notice that Jesus was not the seed of Joseph. He was born of a virgin. So the curse on Coniah did not touch him. Luke gives a line that goes through Nathan another son of David (Luke 3:31). Many believe that is the line through Mary.⁷ Jesus had the legal right to the throne through Joseph. And the blood of David through Mary. God had it worked out 600 years before.

Jeremiah 23: The LORD Our Righteousness

“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD” (v.1). The kings and leaders were bad shepherds. So God said “I will gather the remnant of my flock” and “I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them” (vv.3–4). Then the most important verses in the book.

The Branch again. We saw him in Isaiah 4 and 11. He is raised unto David. A son of David. A man. A King. And his name is YHWH Tsidkenu. The LORD our righteousness. The son of David is called by the name of the LORD. Even the old Jewish rabbis said this verse gives the name of the Messiah.⁸

Trinitarians will say this shows the Son shares the divine name with the Father as a second person. Some will point out that 33:16 gives the same name to Jerusalem. But notice. The text does not say the Branch is a second LORD beside the LORD. There is only one LORD. And the Branch is called by that name. Because the one LORD would come as the son of David. Jerusalem is called by it because the LORD is there and is her righteousness. Just like Ezekiel’s city is called “The LORD is there” (Ezekiel 48:35). We have no righteousness of our own. Jesus is our righteousness. “Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

The rest of the chapter is against the false prophets. “Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD” (vv.23–24). God is everywhere. He fills heaven and earth. He is not one person in heaven while another is on earth. The same God who fills heaven and earth walked the earth in Jesus. “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran” (v.21). “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (v.29).

Jeremiah 24–25: Two Baskets of Figs and 70 Years

After Jehoiachin was carried to Babylon God showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs. One very good. One very bad (24:2). The good figs were the people taken to Babylon. God would bring them back. “And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (24:7). The bad figs were Zedekiah and the ones who stayed. They thought they were the lucky ones. They were not.

Chapter 25 is from the 4th year of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah had been preaching 23 years (25:3). They did not listen. So God would bring Nebuchadnezzar. “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (25:11). 70 years. We saw in our 2 Chronicles and Ezra studies that God kept that word to the year. Daniel read it in the book of Jeremiah and began to pray (Daniel 9:2). Then God gave Jeremiah a cup of the wine of his fury to make all the nations drink (25:15). Jesus prayed in the garden “let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). He drank that cup for us.

Jeremiah 26: This Man Is Worthy to Die

This is what happened after the temple sermon in chapter 7. The priests and prophets grabbed Jeremiah. “Thou shalt surely die” (v.8). “This man is worthy to die” (v.11). Jeremiah said do with me what you want. But know that if you kill me you bring innocent blood on yourselves (vv.14–15). Some of the elders remembered that Micah said the same thing in the days of Hezekiah and Hezekiah did not kill him (vv.17–19; Micah 3:12). So Jeremiah lived. Ahikam protected him (v.24). But another prophet named Urijah preached the same message. Jehoiakim chased him all the way to Egypt and brought him back and killed him (vv.20–23). Jesus said Jerusalem kills the prophets (Matthew 23:37). And they would put him on trial in that same city. And say he was guilty of death (Matthew 26:66).

Jeremiah 27–28: Bonds and Yokes

God told Jeremiah to make yokes and wear one on his neck (27:2). Like an ox. The message was serve the king of Babylon and live (27:12). Then a prophet named Hananiah stood up in the temple. He said God would break the yoke of Babylon in 2 years (28:2–3). Jeremiah said “Amen: the LORD do so” (28:6). He wished it were true. But it was not. Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it (28:10). God said “Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron” (28:13). Then Jeremiah told Hananiah he would die that year for teaching rebellion against the LORD. “So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month” (28:17). 2 months later. A false prophet can tell people what they want to hear. But God has the last word.

Jeremiah 29: I Know the Thoughts That I Think Toward You

Jeremiah wrote a letter to the people already in Babylon. False prophets were telling them they would be home soon. Jeremiah said settle in. Build houses. Plant gardens. Have children (vv.5–6). “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it” (v.7). Pray for Babylon. Then the promise.

People love verse 11. But notice who it was written to. People in captivity. People who would be there 70 years. Most of them would die in Babylon. God had good plans. But they were on his timetable. Not theirs. And the way to find him was to seek him with all the heart.

These 4 chapters are the bright spot of the book. Some call them the Book of Consolation.⁹ God told Jeremiah “Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book” (30:2). Because the days were coming when he would bring them back.

Jeremiah 30: The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (v.7). There would be terrible trouble. But they would be saved out of it. “But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them” (v.9). David had been dead almost 400 years. This is the son of David. The Messiah. “And their governor shall proceed from the midst of them” (v.21). One of their own.

Jeremiah 31: I Will Make a New Covenant

“Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (v.3). Then a sad verse in the middle of the joy. “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted” (v.15). Matthew says this was fulfilled when Herod killed the babies of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:17–18). But God said “Refrain thy voice from weeping … they shall come again from the land of the enemy” (v.16). Then this. “For the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man” (v.22). Some of the early Christians saw the virgin birth in this verse.¹⁰ A woman would surround a man in her womb with no man involved. We will not be dogmatic on it. But it is a new thing that God created. Then the center of the whole book.

This is the only place in the Old Testament that uses the words new covenant.¹¹ The old covenant was written on stone. They broke it. The new covenant would be written on the heart. There are three things we want to point out.

First Jesus said he made this covenant. At the last supper he took the cup and said “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). Testament and covenant are the same word. Hebrews 8:8–12 quotes all of Jeremiah 31:31–34. And Hebrews says Jesus is “the mediator of a better covenant” (Hebrews 8:6).

Second notice who makes the covenant. “I will make a new covenant … saith the LORD.” The LORD makes it. And Hebrews tells us “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator” (Hebrews 9:16). A will does not take effect until the one who made it dies. The LORD made the new covenant. And the one who made it had to die. Jesus died. So the LORD who made the new covenant is the one who died on the cross. God in the flesh. “Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

Third God writes his law on our hearts by his Spirit. Paul says the church is the letter of Christ “written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3). That happens when we are born again of the water and the Spirit (John 3:5). And “I will remember their sin no more.” Peter told them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). That is how the new covenant comes to us. The old covenant was entered at Sinai. The new covenant was entered at Pentecost.

Then God says if you can measure the heavens then you can make him cast off Israel (vv.35–37). Which means never.

Jeremiah 32: Is There Any Thing Too Hard for Me

This is in the 10th year of Zedekiah. Babylon was at the walls. Jeremiah was locked up in the court of the prison (v.2). And God told him to buy a field. His cousin Hanameel came and offered him the family field in Anathoth (vv.7–8). Jeremiah paid 17 shekels of silver. He signed the deed in front of witnesses and put it in a clay jar to last a long time (vv.9–14). It made no sense to buy land the enemy was about to take. “For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land” (v.15). It was an act of faith. Jeremiah prayed “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (v.17). And God answered “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (v.27). “And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever” (v.39). “And I will make an everlasting covenant with them” (v.40).

Jeremiah 33: Call Unto Me

Jeremiah was still in prison. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (v.3). God would heal the city. The voice of joy would be heard again (v.11). Then the Branch again. “In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David” (v.15). “David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel” (v.17). If you can break God’s covenant with the day and the night then you can break his covenant with David (vv.20–21). Which means it cannot be broken. And the man on David’s throne forever is Jesus. “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever” (Luke 1:32–33).

Jeremiah 34–35: Broken Promises and Faithful Rechabites

When Babylon came Zedekiah and the people made a covenant to free their Hebrew servants. The law said to do it every 7 years. They had not. So they did. Then the Babylonians pulled back for a while. And the people took their servants back (34:8–11). God said you made a covenant before me. You cut a calf in two and walked between the parts (34:18). That is how a covenant was made in Genesis 15. They had called down death on themselves if they broke it. So God gave them “liberty … to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine” (34:17).

Chapter 35 goes back to Jehoiakim. God told Jeremiah to bring the Rechabites into the temple and set wine before them. They refused. Their father Jonadab told them never to drink wine. Or build houses. Or plant fields (35:6–7). About 250 years later they still obeyed him. God said these men obey their father. But you will not obey me (35:14). And God promised “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever” (35:19).

Jeremiah 36: The King Burns the Scroll

In the 4th year of Jehoiakim God told Jeremiah to write all his words in a scroll (v.2). Baruch wrote them down as Jeremiah spoke (v.4). Jeremiah was banned from the temple so Baruch read it there on a fast day (vv.5–10). The princes were afraid and took it to the king. It was winter. The king sat by the fire. Every time they read 3 or 4 columns the king cut it with a penknife and threw it in the fire. Until the whole scroll was gone (v.23). “Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments” (v.24). His father Josiah tore his clothes when he heard the book of the law (2 Kings 22:11). The son burned it. So God told Jeremiah to write it again. And they added many more words (v.32). You cannot destroy the word of God. You can only destroy yourself.

Jeremiah 37–38: In the Dungeon

Now we are in the days of Zedekiah again. Jeremiah tried to leave the city to go to his land in Benjamin. They arrested him as a deserter (37:13). They beat him and put him in a dungeon many days (37:15–16). Zedekiah sent for him secretly. “Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon” (37:17). Zedekiah wanted the word in secret. But he did not have the courage to obey it.

The princes told the king Jeremiah should die because he was weakening the soldiers. Zedekiah said “he is in your hand” (38:5). So they let Jeremiah down with ropes into a cistern. There was no water. Just mud. “So Jeremiah sunk in the mire” (38:6). Then a foreigner saved him. Ebedmelech an Ethiopian servant in the king’s house. He went to the king and got permission. He took 30 men and let down old rags so the ropes would not cut Jeremiah under his arms (38:10–13). The princes of Judah tried to kill God’s prophet. A man from Ethiopia saved him.

Jeremiah 39: The City Falls

“In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up” (v.2). Zedekiah ran at night. The Babylonians caught him. They killed his sons in front of him. Then they put out his eyes and carried him to Babylon in chains (vv.6–7). The last thing he saw was what his disobedience cost. Everything Jeremiah said came true. Nebuchadnezzar told his captain to look after Jeremiah and do him no harm (vv.11–12). The enemy treated the prophet better than his own people did. And God told Ebedmelech “I will surely deliver thee … because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD” (v.18).

Jeremiah 40–41: Gedaliah

The Babylonians let Jeremiah choose. Come to Babylon or stay. He stayed with the poor people of the land (40:4–6). Babylon made Gedaliah governor at Mizpah. He was the son of Ahikam who protected Jeremiah in chapter 26. Gedaliah told the people serve the king of Babylon and it will be well with you (40:9). Things started to settle down. Then Ishmael a man of the royal family came and murdered Gedaliah at dinner (41:1–2). He killed many others and threw them in a pit (41:7–9). The little peace they had was gone.

Jeremiah 42–43: Thou Speakest Falsely

The people were afraid Babylon would punish them for Gedaliah’s death. They came to Jeremiah and said pray for us. “Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God” (42:6). 10 days later God answered. Stay in the land and I will build you. Do not go to Egypt. If you go to Egypt the sword you fear will find you there (42:10–16). They said “Thou speakest falsely” (43:2). They had already made up their minds. They only wanted God to agree with them. So they went to Egypt. And they took Jeremiah and Baruch with them (43:6–7). The man who told them not to go was dragged along. At Tahpanhes God told Jeremiah to bury stones at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house. Nebuchadnezzar would set his throne on those very stones (43:9–10).

Jeremiah 44: The Queen of Heaven

In Egypt the people went right back to worshipping the queen of heaven. Jeremiah warned them. They answered him. “We will not hearken unto thee” (v.16). They said when we burned incense to the queen of heaven we had plenty. When we stopped we had nothing (vv.17–18). They had it backwards. They stopped under Josiah. But their hearts never stopped. And they blamed God for what their sin did. God said they would know “whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs” (v.28). These are the last words we have from Jeremiah’s ministry.

Jeremiah 45: Seekest Thou Great Things for Thyself

This short chapter goes back to the year Baruch wrote the scroll. Baruch was discouraged. “Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow” (v.3). God told him “And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not … but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest” (v.5). Baruch was a man of education. He may have hoped for a big career. God said do not look for great things. I will keep you alive. That is enough. Sometimes the reward for faithfulness is just being kept.

God called Jeremiah “a prophet unto the nations” (1:5). These chapters are his words to them. Just like Isaiah 13–23.

Jeremiah 46–49: Egypt and the Neighbors

Chapter 46 is about Egypt. Babylon beat Egypt at Carchemish by the Euphrates in the 4th year of Jehoiakim (46:2). That battle changed the world.¹² Egypt thought it would rise like a flood. It would fall. But God told Israel “fear not thou, O my servant Jacob … for I am with thee” (46:27–28). Chapter 47 is about the Philistines. Chapter 48 is about Moab. Moab had been settled on its lees like wine never poured from vessel to vessel (48:11). Never shaken up. So it grew proud. Chapter 49 is about Ammon and Edom and Damascus and Kedar and Elam. Notice that God promised to bring back the captivity of Moab and Ammon and Elam in the latter days (48:47; 49:6, 39). Judgment is not his last word even for the nations.

Jeremiah 50–51: Babylon Is Taken

The longest message is against Babylon itself. The nation God used to punish Judah would be punished too. “Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded” (50:2). A nation from the north would come against her (50:3). That was the Medes and Persians. And Israel would come home weeping and seeking the LORD their God (50:4). “Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name” (50:34). Then God says again what he said in chapter 10. “He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom” (51:15).

Then Jeremiah wrote all the evil that would come on Babylon in a book. He gave it to Seraiah who was going to Babylon with Zedekiah. He said when you finish reading it tie a stone to it and throw it in the Euphrates. “Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise” (51:63–64). Revelation does the same thing. A mighty angel took up a stone like a millstone and cast it into the sea. “Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all” (Revelation 18:21). “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah” (51:64).

Jeremiah 52: The King Is Lifted Up

The last chapter tells the fall of Jerusalem one more time. It is almost the same as 2 Kings 24–25. We covered that in our 2 Kings study. We will not go into it again but the same principles apply. The walls broken. The temple burned. The brass pillars broken up and carried away (52:17). Then the book ends with a small sign of hope. In the 37th year of his captivity Evilmerodach king of Babylon brought Jehoiachin out of prison. He spoke kindly to him. He set his throne above the other kings. And Jehoiachin ate bread before him all the days of his life (52:31–34). The line of David was not dead. God kept a lamp burning. And from that line would come the Branch.

Jeremiah does not talk about the oneness of God as much as Isaiah does. But everything he says assumes it. And he gives us some of the clearest places where the New Testament takes what the LORD said and says it about Jesus. Before we finish we want to put it all together. There are three things we want to point out.

First there is only one true God. “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king” (10:10). “There is none like unto thee, O LORD” (10:6). The idols are scarecrows. The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish (10:11). And the LORD fills heaven and earth (23:24). He is the God of all flesh (32:27). And Jeremiah says “they shall know that my name is The LORD” (16:21). One God. One name.

Second the New Testament says the words of the LORD in Jeremiah are about Jesus. The LORD is the fountain of living waters (2:13). Jesus said come unto me and drink (John 7:37). The LORD searches the heart and tries the reins and gives every man according to his ways (17:10). Jesus said I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. And I will give unto every one of you according to your works (Revelation 2:23). The LORD is the true God (10:10). John says Jesus Christ is the true God (1 John 5:20). The LORD said I will make a new covenant (31:31). Jesus said this cup is the new testament in my blood (Luke 22:20).

Third Jeremiah shows how the one God would come. A righteous Branch raised unto David. A man. A King. And his name is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (23:5–6). Not the name of a second divine person. The name of the one LORD given to the son of David. The new covenant was made by the LORD. And a testament only takes effect when the testator dies (Hebrews 9:16–17). So the LORD who made it came in the flesh and died. And then he wrote his law in our hearts by his own Spirit. Not three persons. One God. The Father in creation. The Son in redemption. The Holy Ghost in us. The one God revealed in Jesus Christ. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

We have gone through Jeremiah chapter by chapter. Here is what we can conclude. First Jeremiah is about a broken covenant. Israel left the fountain of living waters and dug broken cisterns. They trusted in the temple instead of the God of the temple. They burned the scroll. They threw the prophet in a pit. They went to Egypt when God said stay. And Jerusalem fell just like God said it would. The old covenant could not change their hearts. Because the heart is deceitful above all things.

Second Jeremiah is about the one true God. The LORD is the true God and the living God. He is the potter. We are the clay. He watches over his word to perform it. He fills heaven and earth. Nothing is too hard for him. He kept his word on the 70 years to the year. And he will keep his word to us.

Third Jeremiah points to Jesus Christ. Jeremiah himself was a picture of him. A man of sorrows. Rejected by his own town. Like a lamb brought to the slaughter. Weeping over Jerusalem. Put on trial and called worthy of death. And Jeremiah told us of the righteous Branch whose name is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. And of the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in his blood. The God who said “I will remember their sin no more” is the God who came and died so that our sins could be remitted.

Jeremiah watched the city burn. The old tradition says he then sat down and wept over the ruins. He did not write a sermon. He wrote a funeral song. That is where Lamentations begins.