Names of the Book
English: | Jeremiah |
Hebrew: | ירמיהוּ |
Transliterated: | Yirmeyahu |
Other names: |
Who
Wrote the book: | Jeremiah |
Are the key people: | Judah's kings (Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah), Baruch, Ebed-Melech, King Nebuchadnezzar, the Recabites |
Is it written to: | The people of Judah |
What
G-d's judgment on Judah (Jeremiah 1-45) |
G-d's judgment on the nations (Jeremiah 46-52) |
When
Was it written: | c 626-586 BCE |
Did the events occur: | c 626-586 BCE |
Was it canonized: | c 499-100 BCE |
(see the Timeline of the Tanakh) |
Where
Was it written: | In and around Jerusalem |
Did the events occur: | Anathoth, Jerusalem, Ramah, Egypt |
Why
Jeremiah was written to inform us that: |
G-d's judges sin. |
Sin is punished. |
G-d is sovereign over all. |
G-d will give us new hearts. |
Introduction
The book of Jeremiah, like Isaiah, is both historical narrative and prophecy. Written by the prophet Jeremiah, who is sometimes called the "weeping prophet" because of his sorrow over the sins of his people, the book is focused on the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah dictated his prophecies to a scribe named Baruch who recorded G-d's words of the coming judgment of G-d. At the same time Jeremiah warns of G-d's pending judgment, he also delivers G-d's call to repent and return to Him and His ways. G-d instructs Jeremiah to "pluck up and to break down" as well as "build and plant". The promise of the New Covenant is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34 where G-d promises to write His Law upon the hearts of the reunited house of Israel and Judah and He shall "remember their sins no more."
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