Article Index

Names of the Book

JEREMIAH LAMENTING OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM- Rembrandt

English:  Jeremiah
Hebrew:  ירמיהוּ
Transliterated:  Yirmeyahu
Other names:   

 

whoWho

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

 

whatWhat

G-d's judgment on Judah (Jeremiah 1-45)
G-d's judgment on the nations (Jeremiah 46-52)

 

whenWhen

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)

 

whereWhere

Was it written:  In and around Jerusalem
Did the events occur:  Anathoth, Jerusalem, Ramah, Egypt

 

whyWhy

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.

 

whyIntroduction

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."

 

 


 


The chapters of Jeremiah are not recorded in chronological order.  Our best efforts to sequence the book chronologically have yielded this order:

Jeremiah 1:1-7:15

Jeremiah 26:1-24

Jeremiah 7:16-20:18

Jeremiah 25:1-38

Jeremiah 46:1-51:64

Jeremiah 36:1-8

Jeremiah 45:1-5

Jeremiah 36:9-32

Jeremiah 35:1-19

Jeremiah 21:1-24:10

Jeremiah 27:1-31:40

Jeremiah 34:1-7

Jeremiah 37:1-10

Jeremiah 34:8-22

Jeremiah 37:11-38:13

Jeremiah 39:15-18

Jeremiah 32:1-33:26

Jeremiah 38:14-39:14

Jeremiah 52:1-30

Jeremiah 40:1-44:30

Jeremiah 52:31-34

 

Torah Portion

unknown

 

 

or view this week's triennial cycle reading.

Today is

Yom Chamishi, 18 Adar II, 5784

Thursday, March 28, 2024

 

Learn more about this date in history.