Jeremiah

1. JEREMIAH’S CREDENTIALS (1:1–19)

1:1–3. The stage is set for the book of Jeremiah by introducing person, place, event, and historical time. The person is Jeremiah (1:1), whose name probably means “The Lord Is Exalted.” He is from a priestly line. It is unclear whether Jeremiah came from the family of Abiathar, a priest exiled by David to Anathoth (1 Kg 2:26–27). The place is Anathoth, the modern Anata, two to three miles northeast of Jerusalem.

The event is the coming of the word of God (1:2a), which means that the subsequent book has a divine quality to it. The time frame extends from Josiah through Jehoiakim to Zedekiah, Judah’s last king (1:2b–3). This list omits two three-month reigns: Jehoahaz (609 BC) and Jehoiachin (598–597). Jeremiah’s life coincides with the final years of Judah and its collapse. The prophet lives through Josiah’s reform, Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem in 597, the reign of the vacillating Zedekiah, and the capture and burning of Jerusalem in 587, as well as the horror of Gedaliah’s assassination.

While appropriate for the entire book, the introduction is, to be formal, limited to chapters 1–39, since Jeremiah’s ministry did not conclude with Zedekiah (cf. chaps. 40–44). Almost certainly, therefore, the book grew in stages.

1:4–10. The date for the prophet’s call is 627 BC, the thirteenth year of Josiah’s rule (1:2), when Jeremiah is in his middle or late teens. The dialogue points to an intimacy between the Lord and Jeremiah.

God’s “forming” activity (1:5) recalls Gn 2:7. The word for “prophet” is most appropriately defined, according to the Hebrew root, as “one who is called.” Prophetic work was exemplified by Moses (Dt 18:18), as depicted in Ex 7:1.

Jeremiah registers an excuse (1:6). The word translated “youth” suggests inexperience and inadequacy as well as age. God identifies the given reason (inability to speak) as well as the unspoken but deeper reason (fear) (1:7–8a). The fear is met with the so-called divine-assistance formula, “I will be with you” (1:8b; cf. 1:19; also Gn 28:15; Mt 28:20).

The installation ceremony involves God’s personal touch (1:9). Jeremiah’s primary vocation is speaking, though he will engage in sign acts (chaps. 13, 19, 32). The gift of words recalls Moses (Dt 18:18).

Jeremiah’s ministry is to extend beyond Judah/Israel to other nations (1:10). He is called to demolish false securities (Jr 7:1–15) and to root out the cancer of idolatry and social corruption. Deconstruction precedes construction. Much of Jeremiah’s message is about threat and punishment; good news, as in the Book of Comfort (chaps. 30–33), is less characteristic. His six-part job assignment is to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (18:7–9; 24:6; 31:28; 42:10; 45:4).

1:11–16. Two objects—a flowering branch and a boiling pot—are used to further clarify the call. There is a wordplay between “almond” (Hb shaqed) and “watch” (Hb shaqad) (1:11–12; see the CSB footnote for 1:12). Almond trees are among the first to flower in spring and so become “watching trees.” The word over which God is watching is the promise to Jeremiah.

The boiling pot (1:13–16) represents an unnamed northern army (later to be identified as Babylon; cf. chap. 39). The reason for disaster, variously nuanced throughout, is basically that the people have forsaken God. This summary accusation and the announcement of disaster foreshadow two themes that will dominate chapters 2–10.

1:17–19. Jeremiah’s commission is restated. “Get ready” (1:17) points to promptness in obeying an order (cf. 1 Kg 18:46). Jeremiah will face strenuous opposition from religious officialdom. He will be opposed by kings, by princes, by priests, and by the people (1:18b). But God will make him as strong as a fortified city (1:18a). To call Jeremiah a weeping prophet is not incorrect, but the projected portrait is of a man of steel. His unbending personal courage is most impressive (1:19).

2. SERMONS WARNING OF DISASTER (2:1–10:25)

A. A marriage about to break up (2:1–3:5). The prophet’s opening sermon, dated prior to Josiah’s reform in 621, is direct, even abrupt. The “house of Jacob” (2:4) technically refers to all descendants of Jacob, which includes the ten tribes exiled by the Assyrians in 722 BC as well as the people in the southern territories of Judah and Benjamin, who have, at the time of speaking (627–622), been spared an invasion.

The first scene (2:1–3) shows God with his people, who are like a new bride on a honeymoon. But almost at once there is trouble. The last scene (3:1–5) puts divorce talk squarely at the center. It is a case of a ruined marriage. But God does not want a divorce. Through these verses rings the pathos of a hurt marriage partner. Here is sweet talk about a honeymoon, nostalgic talk about good times, angry talk about people turning to Baal, and exasperated talk about guilty people who claim innocence. Evidence of the partner’s neglect, her arrogance, self-sufficiency, idolatry, injustice, and physical/spiritual adultery is cited. There is no outright call to repent—yet. Pleas for a people to reconsider are frequent.

Jeremiah frequently uses a marriage analogy to speak of God’s relationship to his people. This analogy, also prominent in Ezekiel and Hosea, will continue into the NT, where the church will be called the wife or the bride of Christ.

2:1–3. The initial honeymoon has been called the “seed oracle” for chapters 2–3, where the themes are expanded. The partners share courtship memories of good days: the exodus and Sinai. To that covenant, the people, like a bride wanting to please, responded, “We will do and obey all that the LORD has commanded” (Ex 24:7). “Loyalty” (Hb hesed, 2:2) is a strong word indicating covenant love. As the firstfruits are choice fruit, so Israel was special to God (2:3). As a protective bridegroom, God would not allow the slightest injury to be inflicted on his bride. God and Israel were intimate and close.

2:4–8. Then there was trouble. Neither the leaders nor the people asked the Lord for orientation (2:6). Ironically, the priests, whose major duty was to teach the law—a law that called for the worship of the Lord—did not bother about the Lord (2:8). The prophets, who were to rebuke transgressions, instead now themselves prophesied by Baal. Each group of leaders mishandled its responsibility.

Baal was the god of the Canaanites, a god of weather and fertility. But God’s favors, not Baal’s, made crops productive (2:7). God as partner spelled benefits. To walk after Baal was of no profit. “Worthless” is Jeremiah’s customary word for idols (2:5; cf. 8:19; 10:8, 15; 16:19). Disregard for God, departure from God, and courtships with another god spell deep trouble for the covenant.

2:9–13. In 2:9, a court lawsuit gets under way. It is the Lord, Yahweh, versus Israel. God the prosecutor claims that Israel’s behavior is unprecedented. Were one to go west to the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean or east to the Kedar tribes in Arabia, one could not find an example of a pagan people switching allegiance to another god (2:10–11). Israel’s action is irrational. She has exchanged God—with his deliverance at the exodus, his law at Sinai, his care of the people in the wilderness, and his blessing of Canaan—for a god of no worth. It is a bad bargain. The move is shocking. The heavens are court witnesses (2:12).

Israel is like a man who decides to dig for water despite the artesian well on his property (2:13). Beyond the hard work of digging the cistern and lining it with plaster, he faces the problem of leaky cisterns, not to mention stale water. The unsatisfactory “cisterns” (Egypt and Assyria) are described in 2:14–19. Living (fresh) water is at hand (Is 55:1; Jn 4:1–26). Enough has been said to dispose the court in favor of God and against Israel.

2:14–19. In a series of questions, God both accuses his marriage partner and brings her to reconsider her ways. The first two questions (2:14a), about status, imply a negative answer: No, Israel’s destiny was not to be some servant or slave. Next, God raises a question about Israel’s ravaged condition (2:14b). Since the lion was the insignia for Assyria, that country may be in view (2:15). Memphis was the capital of the pyramid-building Pharaohs, and Tahpanhes was a Nile Delta fortress city (2:16). Egypt had “broken [Israel’s] skull.” The expression certainly refers to a defeat or humiliation brought on by Egypt, possibly a raid into Israel’s choice lands.

Jeremiah 2:8 criticizes prophets who “prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.” This figurine of the god Baal is from Megiddo, in northern Israel, from the period before the monarchy.

© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Courtesy of the British Museum, London, England.

The next question is about assigning blame (2:17). The final two questions concern direction (2:18). Will Israel go for help to Egypt, which has already mistreated her? Or to Assyria, which has invaded the ten northern tribes and occupies the area just north of Jerusalem? The summary accusation is that Israel has forsaken her covenant partner and has no reverence or appropriate fear of God (2:19). The title “Lord God of Armies” speaks of power and rulership.

2:20–28. God’s pleas fail. Hard evidence must now be marshaled. The yoke continues the figure of a partnership, a binding relationship (2:20a; given the line of argument, it may be preferable to follow those ancient manuscripts that read, “you broke your yoke” [see the CSB footnote]). The Canaanite god Baal (2:23a) was worshiped on hilltops and in the shelter of large, spreading trees (2:20b)—a practice noted in Hs 4:13 and forbidden in Dt 12:2.

Figures of speech follow in profusion. The vine, Israel, is of a good variety (2:21). The lye and bleach metaphor stresses the deeply ingrained nature of Israel’s evil (2:22). The young camel, wobbly on its feet, illustrates how directionless Israel is as she crisscrosses her ways (2:23b). The donkey at mating time (2:24) illustrates the passion with which Israel pursues the Baals even in the valley (2:23a), which, if the Hinnom Valley, would be the place for child sacrifice.

In sarcasm, God warns Israel in all this pursuing of other gods not to stub her toe (to use a modern idiom) or to overexert and so become thirsty (2:25a). Israel, self-consciously determined to do evil, responds in fiery language (2:25b). The wood posts and stone pillars mentioned in 2:27 were both worship objects in the Baal cult.

2:29–37. Courtroom language continues. God complains of breach of covenant, as exemplified by the way Israel handles correction, treats the prophets, and announces her independence (2:29–31). Her deliberate desertion is incomprehensible, since God and people, like bride and wedding gown, belong together (2:32).

Four additional accusations undermine any protests of innocence: (1) Israel has sought other lovers, and in such an abandoned way as to teach the professionally evil women, the prostitutes, a thing or two (2:33); (2) Israel is guilty of social violence by killing off innocent ones (2:34); (3) Israel is guilty of lying by claiming she has not sinned (2:35); (4) flighty behavior puts her in league once with Egypt, next with Assyria, but not with the Lord (2:36).

God’s patience is huge but not infinite. A court sentence is missing but is implied in the announcement of Israel’s exile from her land, for to go with hands on one’s head is to go as a captive (2:37).

3:1–5. Israel acts as though she can at any time sweet-talk her way back to God. Not so. The law forbade a divorced husband from returning to his former, now-married wife (Dt 24:1–4). Israel is now “married” to Baal (3:1).

Israel has not simply been overtaken by temptation; she has deliberately planned to be promiscuous (3:2a). Language of prostitution has a double meaning (3:2b–3): physical unfaithfulness in marriage and spiritual disloyalty to God (sacred prostitution was part of Baal worship). Israel’s immature appeals to a supposedly indulgent father only add to the ugly picture of her evil (3:4–5).

B. A story of two sisters (3:6–4:4). Two sisters, Israel to the north and Judah to the south, are each characteristically tagged: “unfaithful” Israel, and “treacherous” Judah (3:6–7). In 722 BC Assyria captured Samaria and occupied Israel. In Jeremiah’s time Judah was still an independent nation, but the Assyrian garrison was only a few miles away. God argues that Judah is more evil than Israel. For Israel, distressed because of God’s punishment, there is an earnest plea to return to God. For Judah, there is a short but very stern warning (4:3–4). The passage is piled with wordplays on the word “turn,” which in its various forms occurs sixteen times in the Hebrew. The messages date early in Jeremiah’s ministry, during Josiah’s reign, possibly between 625 and 620 BC.

3:6–10. Ever-turning Israel is accused of prostitution (3:6). Prostitution, with its overtones of desertion from the marriage partner and illicit sex, is a graphic way of describing Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. God’s harsh action in divorcing Israel by sending her into exile (3:8) should have been a lesson to Judah, who not only saw all that happened (3:7) but was herself severely threatened by the Assyrians (2 Kg 18–19). Stone pillars, sometimes representing the male sex organ, and trees or wood poles representing the female deities were standard Baal symbols (3:9).

3:11–18. Instead of making the expected judgment speech, God issues a plea for ever-turning Israel to turn once more, this time to him. In 3:12–14 three exhortations occur: “return,” “acknowledge,” “return.”

Model of the ark of the covenant

The appeal is persuasive. God advances reasons for Israel to return: (1) he is merciful (3:12); (2) repentance is demanded because of the breach of covenant (3:13); (3) he is still Israel’s husband (3:14; see the CSB footnote); (4) good things will follow if they repent (3:15–18). Among these good things are return from exile, godly leaders, shepherds, prosperity, a holiness extending to the entire city of Jerusalem rather than just the ark, a transformed heart, fulfillment of an earlier promise that nations would be blessed through Israel, and a returned and unified people.

The ark (3:16) was a box in which were kept the stone tables of law that symbolized the presence of God. It had been relocated during Josiah’s reform into the most holy area in the temple (2 Ch 35:3). To do away with the ark would be radical in the extreme. In the new era all of Jerusalem would contain God’s presence. Also striking in these announcements is Israel’s return to the land from the exile, a frequent subject in Jeremiah (24:6; 30:1–3; 31:17; 32:37). [What Happened to the Ark of the Covenant?]

3:19–4:2. God advances further motivations for the people to return to God. Jeremiah 3:19 is not so much a statement as it is a thought, a dream. For a moment we see inside God’s mind. He schemes how he can give his people the very best, and he has pleasant thoughts of how in response Israel would in love call out “My Father” (cf. 31:9). Imagery in this section moves between marriage (3:20) and family.

The dream is shattered, yet it continues. Hypothetically, we must understand, God envisions a change, as though he hears voices calling to him from out of Israel’s perversion (3:21). In imagination, so one must suppose, Israel does an about-face. The people who said they wanted nothing but to go after alien gods (2:25) now declare the Lord, Yahweh, to be their God (3:22). They admit they were wrong and that from the mountains (the place of noisy Baal worship) no help could come (3:23). The “shameful” gods are Baals (3:24; see the CSB footnote). Here is no attempt to look good. Here is no excuse and no belittling of evil (3:25). The speech, however, is God putting words in Israel’s mouth.

For this reason the divine response begins with “if” (4:1). Ever-turning Israel might turn, yet fail to turn to God. Turning to God demands action as well as words. Negatively it means throwing away the detestable things—all that is ungodly. Positively it means a change in behavior to just and righteous dealings (4:2). Then Israel can rightfully make promises by invoking the name of the Lord. Meeting the conditions means good things to nations who will be blessed and who will give the Lord praise; for God’s eye is not on his people alone but on other peoples as well.

4:3–4. After the message to Israel (3:11–4:2), Jeremiah turns to his immediate audience, the city of Jerusalem and the territory of Judah (4:3a). This group will be the focus of the book until chapter 30. Israel appeared ready to change, and so the plea. But Judah is hard, and therefore a threat.

The call is for drastic action. The hard soil of stubbornness is to be broken before good seed is sown—otherwise it will still fall among thorns (4:3b). In spiritual renewal one cannot shortcut repentance. The exhortation turns from agricultural to physiological symbolism (4:4a). Circumcision for Israel was a physical sign of the covenant (Gn 17:1–14). Since it signified a people spiritually linked with God, circumcision talk came to be associated with the heart. The circumcision of hearts refers to removing whatever spiritually obstructs (Dt 10:16). The sense is of giving oneself totally to God’s service.

God’s anger—a very frequent theme in the book—will go forth as a fire so hot that stopping it is impossible (4:4b).

C. Trouble from the north (4:5–6:30). The story now shifts from marital language to military language. In his capacity as a watchman, Jeremiah sees a God-appointed nation about to invade Palestine. The destroyer “from the north” (4:6), frequently mentioned in subsequent chapters, is unnamed but later identified as Babylon (27:6). The large Assyrian Empire, which had dominated the Middle East for 150 years, crumbled quickly after the rise of Nabopolassar, the Babylonian, in 626 BC. This oracle is likely early in Jeremiah’s ministry, before 621 BC or between 612 BC and 608 BC.

In earlier prophets a judgment speech classically included an accusation followed by an announcement. In Jeremiah both elements appear, but not in the usual order. In broad strokes, however, one can identify the sequence: announcement (4:5–31); accusation (5:1–13); threat and further accusation (5:14–31); warning (6:1–9); further warning (6:10–21); and second announcement (6:22–30). The announcement is about the invader. God’s accusation attacks Judah’s lack of moral integrity, spiritual dullness and social injustice, and widespread covetousness and corruption. Laced within announcements, accusations, and warnings are expressions of the prophet’s great sorrow and appeals by God to a people to wash their hearts and to walk in the old paths.

4:5–18. Urgency is the note in 4:5–18. Through short, command-like calls, people are urged to leave their fields and hurry into the walled cities, Zion (Jerusalem) in particular (4:5). The power of the nation bringing disaster “from the north” is lionlike (4:6–7). Before it the leaders, both political and religious, lose their courage (4:9).

Lions stride along the lower section of the facade from the throne room of Nebuchadnezzar’s southern palace in Babylon (sixth century BC). Jeremiah 4:7 appropriately compares Babylon to a lion that “has left his lair.”

Jeremiah 4:10 is the first of the prophet’s many personal responses. Jeremiah is markedly affected by the message he preaches. Boldly he faces God with the contradiction—as listeners would see it—between what has been promised and what is. But the deceit is not to be attributed to God; it is Jerusalem’s wickedness that accounts for the impending disaster.

The burst of the invading nation on the scene is graphically pictured as a windstorm of hurricane proportions (4:11–12). The announcement of the army’s march is sounded first from Dan, Israel’s northern border town, and then from Mount Ephraim, roughly in the middle of Palestine, thirty miles north of Jerusalem (4:15). Like a security force, the enemy directly surrounds Judah’s cities (4:16–17). Judah need not ask why. Her rebellion has brought disaster on her (4:18).

4:19–31. The upcoming invasion is not a skirmish but an onslaught that will demolish everything. Like a photographer using a zoom lens, the prophet first gives an initial picture of the devastation of the whole earth (4:23–26), then a wide-angle shot of all the land (4:27), and finally a close-up of what happens in a town (4:29). The earth becomes chaotic, formless, and empty, as it was before the creation (Gn 1:2). There are four references to nonlife (earth, heaven, mountain, hill) and four mentions of life (humanity, birds, fruitful land, cities) (4:23–26). Behind that army is God’s wrath. God is fully committed to this action of judgment and will not be dissuaded.

God complains that his people are as those who have not known (i.e., experienced) him; they are unwise and undiscerning (4:22). Proof of their lack of discernment is that Judah, sitting atop a dynamite keg, misreads the situation: with trouble about to break in on her, she is primping herself with cosmetics and jewelry (4:30). She is preparing to meet her lovers, who are really her murderers.

The description of devastation is bracketed by expressions of pain and hurt. Jeremiah is bent over with pain, as with prophetic perception he hears the war trumpet and sees the war flag (4:19–21). The invaders are like murderers who will strangle Judah to death (4:31).

5:1–13. So far, statements about Judah’s evil have been only sketches. Now the people are commanded to investigate the moral situation by means of a citywide poll to show that the place, like Sodom and Gomorrah (Gn 18:23–33), totally lacks persons of integrity. And worse—people are defying the Lord. The poll gives warrant for God’s severe judgment. Were there even only one who would seek after truth, God would pardon the city! Jeremiah 5:1 refers to honorable and upright relationships, in every social contact or transaction. Justice is a prime requirement of God’s people. Some merely mouth the words of an oath (5:2). Taking the oath, however, is not proof that people mean it.

Jeremiah participates in the research. The poor are not excused because they are poor but are faulted for hard-heartedness (5:4). The leaders, who have every advantage, fail the test (5:5). Besides, they lead in breaking the relationship (yoke) between people and God. Deliberate defiance and covenant breaking will bring God’s judgment—attack by wild animals (5:6).

God responds to the statistical research. Like a highly sexed male horse, Judah goes neighing adulterously after another man’s wife (5:8). Prosperity apparently has led to luxury, which led to sexual liberties. God will judge sexual promiscuity. The people disparagingly suggest that God does not know what is going on, or if he does, he is too nice to punish (5:12)! Vineyard language of pruning (5:10) is figurative for enemies “pruning” Israel. In mercy God stops short of complete destruction. There is a difference between punishment and annihilation.

5:14–19. The people conclude that God will not punish them. God will give to Jeremiah fiery words that will devastate the people’s arguments (5:14). Babylon, still unnamed, will demolish Judah’s fortresses and consume stored provisions as well as current harvests (5:15, 17). The sense of 5:16 is that their arrows are deadly. War casualties are many.

5:20–31. A second round of announcements and accusations begins in 5:20, in which greater stress is put on the evils that necessitate severe judgment. Specifically, Judah has spurned the Creator God, and within society, including even religious life, people practice injustice.

God presents himself as the Creator, basically the God of space and time. God curbs the mighty sea (5:22) and ensures the regularity of the seasons (5:24). Yet his people, unimpressed, have violated God’s limits and have no awe before him. Irreverently, their eyes and ears are closed to God’s wonders (5:21). Along with the evils of omission are evils of defiant action. In a rebellious spirit they have deserted their God, much to their own hurt, for the rains have ceased (5:23, 25). Sinning people cheat themselves out of what is good.

On the human plane there are likewise sins of action and sins of neglect. Evil persons, like hunters of game, fill their traps (cages) to the limit (5:26–27). By their clever maneuvers, they exploit other people. Their riches have accumulated, due to their deceptive schemes. They are described as overstepping even the usual evils. They have neglected the defense of orphans and other marginal people who do not have access to power (5:28). God makes careful treatment of the disadvantaged a measuring stick for social righteousness (cf. Mc 2:1–5; Is 3:13–15).

Corruption has penetrated even the religious arena (5:30–31). Prophets prophesy falsely. The priests are conniving power grabbers who use their position unethically. For these evils God would judge any other nation. And Israel is no exception (5:29).

6:1–9. Earlier, people hurried into the city for safety (4:5). But now the invader (compared to a nomadic shepherd whose flocks eat away the pasture, 6:3) has moved southward to Benjaminite territory just north of Jerusalem (6:1). God will destroy fragile Zion (6:2).

Attacks are made early in the day (6:4). The commander barks orders; the attackers are determined. The Lord, now on the side of the enemy, adds his orders to build a ramp up against the city wall (6:6a; cf. 21:4). Oppression, violence, and plundering are the reasons for this turn of events (6:6b–7). God may, if Judah does not take warning, do even worse by turning completely away and not restraining the enemy at all (6:8). The enemy will make a thorough search, like a grape gatherer reaching into the vine branches, for the last fugitive (6:9).

6:10–21. With language heightened in intensity, additional reasons are given for the invasion: disinterest in God’s message (6:10); covetousness (6:13a); corrupt religious leaders who fail to be radical but instead do easy counseling, assuring peace and well-being (6:13b–14); callousness about evil (6:15); intentional disobedience (6:16–17); and rejection of God’s word (6:19). Sacrifices continue with rare incense from Sheba in Arabia and specialties possibly from India (6:20). But these are unacceptable because of Judah’s moral condition.

Even so, Jeremiah gives warning; God counsels Judah to return to the older, tried lifestyle and calls forth watchmen (prophets, 6:17a). The warning, however, is not heard because of stopped-up (uncircumcised) ears (6:10), nor is ear given to the prophets (6:17b). God will therefore unleash his anger (6:11–12). Nations are called to witness that such proceedings are just (6:18–19). Jeremiah’s personal outrage seems to ignite God’s anger, for in the interchange both become increasingly exasperated. [Stumbling Block]

6:22–26. Throughout the larger block (4:5–6:30) more and more details about the invader from the north have been supplied. Here the army is depicted as advancing fully armed and altogether cruel and merciless (6:23). The defenders are hopelessly enfeebled (6:24). Escape routes are cut off (6:25). Jeremiah anticipates sackcloth rituals of mourning for those slain (6:26).

The foe from the north (6:22) has been said to be the Scythians, but that is hardly likely since their invasion is historically questionable. Since in mythology the mountain of the north was not only the home for the gods but also the source of evil, some have advocated that Jeremiah used this myth to generate fear and foreboding. Most likely, even though the enemy remains unnamed and may initially not have been known to Jeremiah, the army “from a northern land” was the Babylonian army.

6:27–30. Jeremiah is to assay the worth of metals (6:27). Lead was added to silver ore so that when heated, it would remove alloys. Here there is ore, but not enough silver. Jeremiah’s conclusion: these are “stubborn rebels” (6:28). There is no true Israel. This negative judgment is elsewhere tempered with some words of hope. But now, refine as one will, there is no precious metal, only scum silver at best, which is to be rejected (6:29–30). On this hopeless note ends a passage that has included strong warnings, earnest appeals for change, and dire threats.

D. Examining public worship (7:1–8:3). The basic mode of poetry in 2:1–10:25 is interrupted by a prose sermon. The sermon, a sharp attack on moral deviations and misguided doctrinal views about the temple, stirs up a vehement response, as we learn from a parallel account in 26:1–15. Attack on venerated tradition is risky business (cf. Ac 7). The sermon, on worship, leads to some instructions designed to correct misguided worship (7:16–26) and to halt bizarre worship (7:27–8:3). It is a prelude to further talk about siege (chaps. 8–10). Similarly, the sermon of chapters 2–3 precedes the announcement of the northern invader (4:5–6:30).

7:1–7. The temple gate, perhaps the so-called New Gate (26:10), from which Jeremiah spoke (7:2), belonged to the three-hundred-year-old Solomonic temple. The call to reform is given without preamble but with specifics. The famous temple sermon at once identifies the points at issue: a call to behavioral reform and a challenge to belief about the temple (7:3–4). The first point is amplified in 7:5–7, the second in 7:8–11. A biting announcement concludes the sermon, which was preached early in the reign of Jehoiakim.

Practicing justice—that is, the observance of honorable relations—is a primary requirement (7:5). Specifically, “doing justice” (as contrasted to the Western notion of “getting justice”) means coming to the aid of those who are helpless and otherwise the victims of mistreatment, often widows, orphans, and strangers (7:6a). To shed innocent blood is to take life by violence or for unjust cause (7:6b). The gift of land was outright (7:7); the enjoyment of that gift was conditional. The theme of land loss and land repossession is frequent in Jeremiah (16:13; 24:6; 32:41; 45:4).

7:8–15. A second consideration is a popular chant that had become a cliché: “the temple of the LORD” (7:4). Its popularity arose from the teaching that God chose Zion, and by implication, the temple (Ps 132:13–14). A century earlier, with the Assyrian threat, God had shielded and spared the city (2 Kg 19). Any threat to the city’s safety was apparently shrugged off with the argument that God would protect his dwelling place under any circumstance. A theology once valid had become stale, even false.

Jeremiah points to violations of the Ten Commandments (7:9; Ex 20:1–17). It is incongruous that people who steal and go after Baal, this Canaanite nature deity of weather and fertility, should claim immunity on the basis of the temple. Brashly these worshipers contend that standing in the temple, performing their worship, gives them the freedom to break the law (7:10). The temple, like a charm, has become a shelter for evildoers. Theirs is (eternal) security, so they think. Yet God sees not only their holy worship but their unholy behavior (7:11).

The clincher in Jeremiah’s sermon comes from an illustration in their history more than four hundred years earlier (7:12–15). Shiloh, located in Ephraimite territory some twenty miles north of Jerusalem, was the worship center when Israel entered the land (Jos 18:1). Eli was its last priest. It was destroyed, likely by the Philistines. Samaria, the capital of Israel, was taken by the Assyrians in 722. God threatens to do to Jerusalem what he did to Shiloh and Samaria.

As he pronounces judgment on the temple, Jeremiah calls the place “a den of robbers” (Jr 7:11). In the NT, Jesus likewise implies judgment as he quotes this verse to the market sellers in the temple (Mt 21:13; Mk 11:17; Lk 19:46).

7:16–20. The people’s worship is misguided in two ways: they offer to the queen of heaven (7:16–20), and they offer to God but without moral obedience (7:21–26).

The queen of heaven (7:18) was Ishtar, a Babylonian fertility goddess. Worship of Mesopotamian deities became popular with Manasseh (2 Kg 21:1–18; 23:4–14). Such apostate worship was anything but secret since it involved entire families. Cakes, round and flat like the moon or possibly star-shaped or even shaped like a nude woman, were offered as food to this deity. But any worship of gods other than Yahweh is a violation of the first commandment. Violations bring dire consequences.

7:21–26. The tone of 7:21 is sarcastic. Some offerings required participants to eat meat; others, such as burnt offerings, were to be offered in their entirety. God did, of course, give commandments in the wilderness about sacrifices (7:22; cf. Lv 1–7).

External worship practices are empty without a devoted heart. Three factors should encourage obedience: (1) the promise of covenant, a part of God’s initial design (7:23a; Ex 6:7; variations of the formula “I will be your God, and you will be my people” occur twenty times in the Bible); (2) total well-being (7:23b); and (3) prophets to encourage it (7:25).

7:27–31. Again the people are charged with failure to receive correction (7:27). The result is the disappearance of truth and integrity (7:28) and a turning to a bizarre religion (7:30–31). God’s punishment will be as outlandish as their practice is bizarre. Anticipating that awful death, Jeremiah is commanded to cut his hair and to cry on the bare hilltop, as was customary to mark a calamity (7:29).

Vandalism in worship exists. Representations of other deities were brought into the temple reserved for Yahweh (7:30). The Ben Hinnom Valley, also known as Topheth (7:31), is immediately south of old Jerusalem. Topheth (“Fire Pit”) was a worship area (high place) in this valley. Child sacrifice was introduced by Ahaz and Manasseh (2 Kg 16:3; 21:6), abolished by Josiah (2 Kg 23:4–7), but renewed by Jehoiakim.

7:32–8:3. This judgment speech predicts that the deaths either through plague or military slaughter will be so overwhelming that the valley’s new name will be the Valley of Slaughter (7:32). The sacrifice area will become the cemetery. None will be left to chase off vultures who feed on corpses (7:33). Bones of past kings will be exhumed by the enemy as an insult (8:1). The astral deities, so ardently served and worshiped, will look on coldly and helplessly (8:2).

E. Treachery, trouble, and tears (8:4–10:25). “If my head were a flowing spring, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night” (9:1). It is from such expressions that Jeremiah has been called the weeping prophet. The prophet aches for his people. Trouble will be everywhere, and it will be terrible. And the reason is that God’s people have forsaken God’s law (8:9; 9:13), and they have not repented of their evil. Jeremiah’s emotional outpourings of sorrow are a new dimension in the development of the theme of judgment.

As the book now stands, this kaleidoscope of accusation, threat, and lament—mostly in poetry—follows the temple sermon, which is in prose. One can discern three rounds of presentation: 8:4–9:2; 9:3–25; 10:1–25. Three sections occur in each round: the people’s sins (8:4–13; 9:3–9; 10:1–16); the coming trouble (8:14–17; 9:10–16; 10:17–18); and sorrow in the minor key (8:18–9:2; 9:17–22; 10:19–25).

8:4–13. Those who stumble ordinarily get up. Those who find themselves on a wrong road turn around. Not so Israel. The words “turn” and “return” occur five times in 8:4–5. Like horses with blinders, Israel stubbornly charges ahead (8:6). Israel has less sense than birds or animals, whose instinct at least returns them to their original place or owner (8:7).

There are four other problems: (1) Pseudowisdom. Judah prides herself in the possession of the law, possibly a reference to the newly found law book (Deuteronomy?) in 621 under Josiah (2 Kg 22:1–10). “The lying pen of scribes” (8:8) does not refer to miscopying or questionable interpretations as much as to leaving a corrupt society unchallenged. (2) Greed. All strata of Hebrew society crave the accumulation of wealth (8:10a; cf. 6:12–13a). (3) Lying. Religious leaders treat Israel’s serious wounds (her crisis of wickedness) lightly. They say that all is well (8:10b–11; cf. 6:13b–14). The duty of prophets was to expose evil, not to minimize it. One can be occupied with God’s word yet have an unscriptural message. (4) Failure to feel shame. The prophet, in contrast to Israel, knows what time it is (8:12–13; cf. 6:15).

8:14–17. The list of harmful consequences continues. It is now the people who understand that the human evils of the enemy’s advancing cavalry and poisoned water (8:14b), as well as natural evils such as poisonous snakes (8:17), are God’s agents. Sarcastically it is noted that people leave the fields only to die in the cities (8:14a). Resistance is futile. Poisonous adders cannot be charmed; horses, like modern cruise missiles, are unstoppable (8:16–17).

8:18–9:2. We have here not a dispassionate onlooker but a tender caregiver torn up over the news of the coming disaster (8:18). The prophet, perhaps imaginatively, hears the cry of a now-exiled people. Plaintively they ask about God, their king (8:19). At the same time, the prophet hears God saying in effect: “I can’t stand their idolatry.” Listening once more, the prophet detects the hopeless cry of those in exile who approach a dreaded winter without provisions (8:20). The early harvests of grain (May–June) and the later harvests of fruits (September–October) are over. This agricultural allusion may be a way of saying, “We counted on help (our own or that of others), but nothing came of it.”

The prophet identifies with the people (“my dear people,” 8:19, 21, 22; 9:1). Since they are crushed, he is crushed (8:21). The prophet is beside himself with grief. Exhausted, he cries and wishes for his head to be a never-ending fountain so that he could cry more (9:1). On the other hand, he would like to get away from it all (9:2). The people’s sins disgust him. Prophets did not stand at a distance lobbing bombshells; they were closely involved with their listeners.

9:3–9. Lying, mentioned in 8:10, is now treated in full as a major problem. Deception has replaced integrity as a way of life. Out of a false person come falsehoods.

The tongue and its lies are pictured as a bow and arrows (9:3, 8). Lies have a lethal quality about them. Jeremiah 9:4 has a clever turn of phrase: “Jacob” is synonymous with “deceiver”; hence, literally, everyone deceives (“Jacobs”) his brother. [Refine]

For any other nation such flagrant violation of truth and integrity would mean God’s punishment. Should Israel be spared (9:9)? It is as though God throughout wrestles with the issue of what is the just and right thing to do.

9:10–16. The “I” of 9:10 is Jeremiah, who once more responds emotionally by weeping at the prospect of punishment. The desolation is complete. No mooing of cattle and no sound of birds are heard. All signs of life are gone (cf. 4:25). The “I” of 9:11 is God. Scattering among the Gentiles will be a fate for some, death by the sword the fate for others (9:16). The title “LORD of Armies” does not leave the outcome of his decision in doubt (9:15).

Such destruction calls for an explanation (9:12). In a nutshell the reasons are faithlessness to the law (in which they boasted, 8:8), disobedience to the Lord, a godless lifestyle, and long-practiced idolatry of the Canaanite variety (9:13–14). Other reasons are given in 9:3–9.

9:17–22. Voices of wailing in response to the total destruction come from three quarters. First, professional women mourners, usually engaged to prompt crying at funerals and calamities, are hurriedly summoned to lament this awful disaster (9:17–18). Second, wailing is heard from Jerusalem itself, where plundered fugitives explain that they must vacate their dwellings and leave their land because all is ruined (9:19). Third, since in the future, mourners will be in great demand, the professionals are urged to train daughters and neighbors in the art of mourning (9:20). The epidemic is described metaphorically (9:21).

9:23–26. The Lord describes proper boasting (9:23–24). The “wise” have been noted in verse 12 and again in verse 17. “Wisdom” and “wealth” could refer to the royal lifestyle under Solomon. Jehoiakim gloried in riches, in contrast to his father, Josiah, for whom knowing God was important; knowing God meant caring for the disadvantaged. Faithful, covenant love is voluntary help extended to those in need. Justice includes honorable relations in every transaction. Judged by this quality alone, the situation described in the foregoing verses is nauseating. Righteousness is that inner disposition of integrity and uprightness that issues in right action.

The nations listed (9:26) were likely in a military alliance against Babylon. The historical situation is assumed to be 597, when Nebuchadnezzar led an attack against Jerusalem. For Israelites to hear their country named along with others must have been shocking. Yet this emphasizes that inner obedience is more crucial in God’s sight than mere outward compliance.

10:1–16. The blistering tirade against idols is directed against “Israel,” which as an umbrella term includes both Israel and Judah (10:1). Here Judah is particularly in view. Judah is warned about the astral deities commonly worshiped in Babylon (10:2). The contrast between homemade idols and the living God has seldom been better drawn, by alternating a mocking poem with a doxology: idols (10:3–5), God (10:6–7), idols (10:8–9), God (10:10), idols (10:11), God (10:12–13), idols (10:14–15), God (10:16).

With cutting sarcasm, the Lord describes the process of shaping, stabilizing (10:3–4), and clothing these gods (10:9). The idols are nonfunctioning (10:5). They are an embarrassment to their makers and will be the object of divine punishment (10:14–15). Fear, quite inappropriate before idols, is necessary before God (10:5–7).

To clinch the contrast with the unnamed figurines, God is given a name: Yahweh (“LORD,” 10:6, 10), the Lord of Heaven’s Armies (10:16). He is also known as “King of the nations” and “eternal King” (10:7, 10). From a statement about his incomparability (God is in a class by himself, 10:6) and his function as Creator (10:12–13), the writer moves to God’s crowning activity: his election and shaping of Israel to be his special people (10:16).

10:17–18. The crisp word about picking from the ground the fugitive’s bundle (10:17; see the CSB footnote) announces the theme of coming trouble heard throughout these chapters. God serves notice, as to a tenant, that he will fling out the inhabitants (10:18). There is about this a tone of final warning.

10:19–25. Judah is without shelter and without family (10:20). Blame properly falls on Judah’s leaders, chiefly kings, who have failed to seek God (10:21). The destruction comes at the hand of the northerner—still unnamed but later identified as Babylon (10:22).

Instead of taking satisfaction in his announcement coming true, Jeremiah interjects a cry of woe (10:19). Jeremiah speaks again in 10:23. Given the dull-hearted leaders, he is unsure of his next step. The request to be corrected may be for himself or may be made on behalf of the people (10:24). The prayer for God’s anger to fall on the Gentiles could be a quotation from the people (10:25; cf. Ps 79:6–7). Like the prayers for vengeance (Pss 109; 137), while not representing the NT ideal of loving enemies, the prayer at least turns the situation over to God instead of taking it in hand personally.

3. STORIES ABOUT WRESTLING WITH PEOPLE AND WITH GOD (11:1–20:18)

The preceding chapters, though grim with dark announcements and heavy accusations, have had a formal cast. Only rarely has the prophet expressed personal anguish. In chapters 11–20, however, Jeremiah as a person is much more at center stage. In these stories Jeremiah wrestles hard to persuade his audience of their serious situation. He engages in sign acts. Here also we observe a man wrestling with God as he deals with frustrations and discouragements. The so-called laments or confessions—seven of them—are unique windows into the prophet’s interior life (11:20–23; 12:1–4; 15:10–11, 15–21; 17:14–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–13).

A. Coping with conspiracies (11:1–12:17). Two scenes of conspiracy dominate chapter 11. The first is a conspiracy of a covenant people against its covenant God (11:9–13). In the second conspiracy, in the private arena, plotters conspire to do away with Jeremiah (11:18–19). The double conspiracy leads to two personal encounters with God in which the prophet pours out his complaint (11:20; 12:1–4). In each case God answers, but not necessarily as Jeremiah expected (11:21–23; 12:5–17).

11:1–8. Covenant has been a presupposition in the foregoing chapters, but it is now made explicit. At stake in the covenant relationship are intimacy and loyalty. The intimacy factor is pinpointed in the covenant formula: “You will be my people, and I will be your God” (11:4). The loyalty component is explicit in the command “Obey.” To “obey” (very frequent in 11:2–8) is to comply with the will of another. The charge that Israel has not obeyed is repeated more than thirty times in chapters 7, 11, 26, 35, and 42.

Deuteronomy 28 forms the critical covenant background for understanding Jr 11.

“This covenant” (11:2) may be the renewed covenant under Josiah (2 Kg 23). More likely, because the context is ancestors and Egypt (11:4, 7), it is the Sinai covenant (Ex 19–24). Since the Josianic covenant was a renewal of the earlier covenant, we may properly see in these verses Jeremiah’s aggressive preaching on behalf of the reform launched by Josiah in 621 BC.

Deliverance was the presupposition for covenant (11:4a). The idiom “land flowing with milk and honey” (11:5) suggests paradise and in Western idiom could be rendered “God’s country.” Set in between these grace gifts is a call to obedience (11:4b).

Covenant, like ancient political treaties, invokes strong curses on the party that fails to observe the treaty terms (cf. Dt 27:15–26). God threatens to set these curses in motion (11:3, 8). By saying “Amen” (11:5), Jeremiah consents to this understanding of covenant and invites his audience to stand with him on common ground.

11:9–13. These verses are in the pattern of the traditional judgment speech, which begins with an accusation (11:9–10) and ends with an announcement (11:11–13). The accusation becomes the reason for, and shapes the nature of, the announcement.

The accusation is conspiracy (11:9). Both Judah and Israel have conspired to return to old ways (11:10). In defiance they have gone after other gods. In political language this is an act of treason. Jeremiah puts it boldly and shockingly: they “broke my covenant.”

11:14–17. God closes the door to any change of mind by forbidding prophetic intercession (11:14). The sense of 11:15 is that Judah/Israel, God’s beloved, has no business in his temple (perhaps meaning the land) because she has plotted numerous times against him. Sacrifices, which she still offers, are called “holy meat” to suggest her notion that only the outward matters.

Now Israel, a highly desirable and potentially productive olive tree, is hit by a lightning storm and destroyed (11:16). Covenant curses have been activated (11:17).

11:18–23. To pronounce the covenant broken is to stir opposition. The people of Anathoth, Jeremiah’s townsfolk, are almost certainly his immediate family (11:21; cf. 12:6). Embarrassed, then incensed, they eventually plot murder (11:18–19). People who resent a disconcerting message resort to silencing or eliminating the messenger (cf. Am 7:12; Jesus in Jn 19; Stephen in Ac 7:54–59).

The episode triggers an appeal by Jeremiah to God for him to deal with the plotters. As a righteous God, he tests “heart and mind” (11:20). Together the two terms represent a person’s internal motives. Commendably, the prophet refrains from retaliation.

Jeremiah’s prayer in Jr 11:20 for God to bring judgment is in accord with the teaching, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom 12:19; cf. Dt 32:35).

God’s response to bring disaster on the plotting townsfolk must be seen as a miniature scene showing how God can be expected to deal with covenant partners who conspire. Jeremiah 11:20–23 makes up Jeremiah’s first personal lament.

12:1–4. The second of Jeremiah’s seven personal laments touches on God, the wicked, the prophet himself, and the land. Jeremiah uses court language and asks for justice, or right dealing. “Righteous” is a term of relationship describing integrity and uprightness (12:1). On what grounds can God prosper evil persons? It is an old question. The wicked discount God by claiming that God will not have final jurisdiction over them (12:4).

The prophet protests his innocence, a feature of other laments (12:3). Moral corruption has ecological effects, death among them (12:4; cf. Hs 4:1–3).

12:5–13. Verses 5–17 are a reply to the questions of verses 1–4. There are two answers. The first is to rebuke Jeremiah, saying essentially, “If such (little) problems upset you, how will you successfully deal with weighty issues?” (12:5). The Jordan Valley has its jungles—a considerable obstacle course. Here is no offer of sympathy nor divine coddling but a call to toughen up. Far harder to explain than the success of the wicked is God’s overturning of his own people.

Jeremiah 12:7–13, a second answer, gives a partial response to the evil about which Jeremiah has complained. God will judge that wicked people even though it is his inheritance, his special people (12:7). Already surrounding nations have beset her, like hawks circling overhead (12:9). The raids of hordes, including the Moabites and Ammonites, could be in view in 12:10, since kings were commonly called shepherds in the ancient Near East.

Successively God loses his vineyard, his field, and in fact, his entire portion (12:10–13). As in the previous lament (11:20–23), Jeremiah’s challenge to God’s justice becomes an excuse to reiterate the now-familiar announcement of coming destruction. One clue to the question about justice lies in the future, when God will punish his people.

12:14–17. God’s justice, about which Jeremiah has inquired, means that the nations who as God’s agents bring desolation will themselves be judged (12:14). This of course raises other issues, not addressed here but elaborated elsewhere (Is 10:5–7). One does not harm God’s possession, his people, without receiving harm in turn. But later on God will restore Moab and Ammon (Jr 48:47; 49:6). He will bless Egypt (Is 19:24). The agenda of justice has become the agenda of compassion (12:15). God’s missionary purpose must not go unnoticed (12:16–17; cf. Is 2:1–4; 19:16–25).

B. Pride ruins everything (13:1–27). 13:1–11. The ruined undergarment (13:1–7) is the first of several sign acts, dramatized attention-getters, for people who have stopped listening. Sign acts consist of a divine command, the report of compliance, and an explanation. The “linen undergarment” (13:1) is like a short skirt that reaches down to the knees but hugs the waist.

Jeremiah’s symbolic act has a double message, the first of which is the evil of pride (13:9). God detests pride (2 Ch 32:24–26; Pr 8:13). Arrogance, an exaggerated estimate of oneself, brings the disdain of others and accounts for the evils of 13:10. Second, the sign act pictures how God would take proper pride in Israel, who, like the undergarment worn around the waist, would be close, as well as beautiful (13:11). That hope was dashed.

13:12–14. Wine at harvest was put into storage jars. Two-foot-tall clay jars held about ten gallons each. Jeremiah states the obvious (or is it a riddle?) in order to secure assent (13:12). Those drunk with actual wine or with divine intoxication (25:15) are civil and religious rulers as well as ordinary citizens (13:13). The smashing of these jars suggests the violent clash between these groups, with resulting factions (13:14). The entire social structure will disintegrate.

13:15–27. A discussion of pride (13:15–20) precedes a miscellaneous collection of evils, all of which justify harsh punishment. To “give glory” (13:16) is literally to give weight or to make God, not self, prominent. To look for light is to look for the time of salvation. The picture is one of a traveler in the mountains overtaken by nightfall. The captivity, indeed Judah’s wholesale exile, is here first mentioned (13:19), even though the northern agent (Babylon) has been announced earlier (4:6). In the invasion, the fortified cities of the Negev in the south will be surrounded and blockaded, becoming inaccessible.

Jerusalem is addressed as a woman in 13:21–27. Those persons and countries whom Judah enlisted as allies will be appointed by the enemy to rule over them. Like civilian women in wartime, so Judah will be violated. She will be disgraced, stripped from head to toe, and exposed.

C. Dealing with drought (14:1–15:21). If past chapters have emphasized God’s punishment of his people through the sword, these two deal primarily with drought. Famine pushes the people to pray, even to acknowledge their sinfulness. God refuses to help; no relief is in sight. The prophet is pained by the people’s plight, and, in a different way, by his own. Chapter divisions here obscure two symmetrical halves (14:2–16 and 14:17–15:9). In each there is a description of the famine (14:2–6; 14:17–18), a prayer (14:7–9; 14:19–22), and a divine response (14:10–16; 15:1–9).

14:1–9. The drought is vividly depicted in its effect on high-ranking people, farmers, and animals (14:3–6). City gates (14:2), more like open areas comparable to modern malls, were places for merchandizing and legal transactions. All has come to a standstill because of the downturn in the economy. To “cover their heads” (14:3) was a cultural expression of embarrassment or frustration.

When people’s livelihood is in jeopardy, they pray. There is recognition of iniquity and acknowledgment of their continual rebellion and sin (14:7). The name Yahweh (“LORD”) means “I Am Present to Save,” yet the people chide God for being uninvolved and for failure of nerve (14:8–9). They seek consolation from old assurances and, in bargaining fashion, ask that God forget their sins.

14:10–18. The finality of God’s “No!” to the people’s prayer (14:10) is evidenced in his forbidding prophetic intercession (14:11). All access to God such as fasting and sacrifice is barred (14:12; cf. Is 58:3–11). False prophets who keep announcing good times and “lasting peace” are Jeremiah’s constant irritation (14:13). His experience of seeing victims of sword (animals put out of misery) in the field and hunger in the city totally contradicts any optimism (14:18). The conclusion: the prophets and priests, who are called to show the way, wander aimlessly.

14:19–22. Suffering, such as hunger, is not necessarily sin related; however, this famine is a judgment. Hope for an answer lies in the Lord’s name, his covenant, and his creation power (14:21–22). “Don’t disdain your glorious throne” is an appeal on the basis of the temple (17:12).

15:1–9. Again intercession is ruled out. Moses and Samuel, both prophets, interceded at critical times (15:1). God fulfills an earlier announcement not to hear pleas for help (11:11). Manasseh, who ruled Judah fifty years earlier, was Judah’s most wicked king (15:4; cf. 2 Kg 21:1–8). A generation is being punished for another’s sin, but also for its own sin.

By sword or other means (15:3) God will annihilate the men, leaving widows (15:8). Once-proud mothers of many sons will gasp in their confused, possibly demented state (15:9). The covenant promising many descendants has been reversed. [Winnowing Fork]

15:10–14. Two laments from the prophet follow (15:10–21). Both are in response to the droughts and, more particularly, Jeremiah’s devastating announcement that God will destroy his people.

Jeremiah claims he is not to be faulted for the nagging and the widespread antagonism against him. He would rather not have been born (15:10). Jeremiah 15:12 is a reference to the strong northern killer nation who, like iron, will not be broken in his advance. The land will be plundered (15:13), and people will be removed from their land (15:14). The response to the prophet’s woes, instead of softening the announcement, hardens it yet more.

15:15–21. The lament of 15:15–18 is by one who shirks further engagement. The prayer for vengeance (15:15) falls short of the Christian teaching to love enemies. “Your words were found” (15:16a) may refer to the discovery of the scroll in the temple (2 Kg 22:13). High joy (to be called by the name the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and so be on the winning side) is followed by loathsome misery, hot indignation, and isolation (15:16b–17). (Jeremiah did not marry; see 16:2.) Jeremiah has disgust for his enemies and difficulty stabilizing his personal life, and he is disappointed in God, who has become a problem. Dry streambeds give a Palestine traveler the mirage of water (15:18).

God’s answer deals with all three parts of the lament. First, Jeremiah is to return (15:19a). In other words, God is saying, “If you change your heart and come back to me, I will take you back.” Second, Jeremiah must not take his cue from others (15:19b). Third, God recalls the promise of his presence given at the time of Jeremiah’s call (15:20; cf. 1:19). The prophet who levels with God finds that God levels with him. [The Laments of Jeremiah]

D. Much bad news, some good (16:1–17:27). Chapters 16 and 17 are a mixture. God privately instructs Jeremiah not to socialize; God speaks publicly about keeping the Sabbath. The people of God will be exiled, but there will be a restoration. A prophet turns to God in his frustration; Gentiles turn en masse to God in conversion. There are mini essays; there are proverb-like sayings. However, the theme remains unchanged: sin is pervasive, and judgment will be certain and terrible.

16:1–13. God gives Jeremiah three commands about his social life. The reason for each command arises out of the coming disaster. First, Jeremiah is to be celibate (16:2). Having children, which was highly desirable, is forbidden him, for all existing families will disappear. Gruesome death will come to children from terrible diseases, the enemy’s sword, and famine (16:3–4).

Second, Jeremiah must not attend funerals or extend comfort (16:5a). The reason: God has withdrawn his covenant blessings of peace, covenant love, compassion, and favor (16:5b–7). So must the prophet withdraw his involvement. Cutting oneself to show grief, though forbidden (Lv 19:28; Dt 14:1), was apparently practiced (see the CSB footnote for 16:6).

Third, Jeremiah is to avoid weddings and all parties as a way of announcing the end of all joyful socializing (16:8–9). Judah has deserted God because of the stubbornness of an evil heart (16:12; cf. 3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 18:12; 23:17). Forewarned of the reason for the disaster, Judah would be able to survive.

16:14–21. Placing promise oracles next to judgment oracles is not new (see Hs 1:9–10). The oracle of 16:14–15 is repeated in Jr 23:7–8, where it better suits the context. The statement is not to deny the exodus event but to emphasize that the return from exile will be even more impressive.

Jeremiah 16:16 notes that fishermen with nets will catch the masses, while hunters will catch the stragglers, so that no one will escape. The language about idols is filled with disgust (16:18).

Ironically, while Judah turns from God to idols, Gentiles, world over, turn from idols to God (16:19–20). The vision is refreshing and overpowering (cf. Jr 12:14–17; Is 2:1–4; 45:14–25; Zch 8:20–23). Gentiles are saying about these gods what God says about them. God speaks in 16:21. He will teach the Gentiles in the sense of giving them an experience of his power.

An Assyrian fisherman. In Jeremiah, fishermen catch people for judgment (Jr 16:16). Jesus reverses this, sending fishermen to catch people for salvation (Mt 4:19).

© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Courtesy of the British Museum, London, England.

17:1–4. The judgment speech in 17:1–4 consists of an accusation and an announcement. Sin written indelibly on the heart (17:1) will one day be replaced by God’s law written on the heart (31:33). Horns were corner projections on an altar to which the animal was tied and on which the atoning blood was put. Asherah poles (17:2) were wooden carvings erected to honor the astral goddess Asherah, known in Babylon as Ishtar.

The announcement summarizes the disaster. Jeremiah 17:3 refers to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where the temple stood. High places were hilltop areas set apart for the worship of Canaanite gods. By default, the people will lose their belongings, their land, and their freedom. The cause is twofold: Judah’s sin and God’s anger (17:4).

17:5–8. In the parable of 17:5–8 the issue is in what or whom one trusts (17:5, 7). Jeremiah’s announcements, if taken seriously, would trigger military preparations. But on a national scale confidence was not to be placed in human leadership (even a new king) or in military resources. The prospect for nations or individuals leaning on human strength is death and isolation (17:6). In stark contrast, God-trusting persons are “blessed” or empowered, like a tree planted by water (17:8).

In contrast to those who trust in human strength, who are like a juniper in the wilderness, those who trust in the Lord are like a tree planted by water (Jr 17:5–8). Similar comparisons between the godly and ungodly are made in Ps 1 and Mt 7:16–20.

17:9–13. Three separate and only loosely related wisdom-like pieces are joined together. The heart, the seat of the will, is examined and diagnosed as deceptive (17:9–10). Verse 9 reflects Jeremiah’s despair in the human situation. The antidote is a heart transplant (31:33).

The proverb of 17:11 emphasizes both the wrongfulness of riches acquired by devious means and the way such riches are vulnerable to attack and loss. A partridge or calling bird is said to gather the eggs of other birds and then brood on them to hatch them.

Jeremiah 17:12 continues the motif of contrasts begun in verse 5. The temple is the place of God’s dwelling and hence the place of safety. Jeremiah 17:13 points to some disgrace or may mean consigned to death, quite opposite to “written in the book [of life]” (Dn 12:1; cf. Ex 32:32).

17:14–18. Another lament as a personal response interrupts the attention focused on the nation. It depicts Jeremiah, however, as one who trusts the Lord. To be “saved” (17:14) is to be brought from restrictive places to the freedom of open spaces. Jeremiah’s personal request for healing and salvation arises from the mocking taunts of others. They jeeringly ask about the unfulfilled announcements of disaster (17:15)—a question likely asked prior to the first Babylonian invasion of Judah in 605. Jeremiah protests his innocence. He has not wished for the catastrophic event (17:16).

The harshness of his prayer for disaster to come on his opponents can be appreciated if his opponents are understood as those opposing God. Jeremiah 17:18, it has been argued, is proportionate destruction (cf. 16:18).

17:19–27. The people are exhorted to observe the Sabbath (Sabbath laws are given in Ex 20:8–11; 23:12; 34:21; Nm 15:32–36). “Watch yourselves” (17:21) is an admonition used in Deuteronomy (Dt 4:9, 15). The instruction is to desist from public trading and from work generally.

Reform and renewal start with specifics. Some have suggested that of the Ten Commandments Jeremiah singled out the fourth because it was the easiest to observe; besides, it was a tangible sign of the covenant (Ex 31:16–17). As with God’s instructions generally, so here, difficulty ensues for those who disregard them; blessing follows those who obey. After two three-month reigns (Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin) the promise of a stable monarchy (17:25–26) would be important. Political stability and religious commitment provide the setting for the good life.

Appropriate sacrifices will be brought from the whole land. Jeremiah 17:26 names the regions: Benjamin, a territory adjoining Judah to the north; the Shephelah, foothills west of Jerusalem; the hill country, the range from Ephraim south; and the Negev, in the desert south. In the gates, the very place of desecration, fiery destruction will begin should the Sabbath not be observed (17:27).

E. A pot marred, a pot smashed (18:1–19:15). Chapters 18 and 19 describe two sign acts. The sign act or symbolic action is in the traditional form: (1) an instruction, (2) a report of compliance, and (3) an interpretation. Both sign acts in these chapters involve clay pots. In the first a marred pot is a prelude to a call to repentance—a call that is defiantly rejected. In the second sign act, a pot is smashed as a visual message about the coming catastrophe upon the city of Jerusalem. God’s sovereignty is evident throughout.

18:1–10. The potter’s equipment consisted of two stone disks placed horizontally and joined by a vertical shaft (18:3–4). The lower would be spun using the feet; the other, at waist level, had on it the clay for the potter’s hand to shape. [Wheel]

Jeremiah 18:7, 9 recalls words from Jeremiah’s call, which occur there, as here, in the context of nations generally (1:10; cf. 24:6).

It is not so much that God offers a second chance but that, just as the potter is in charge and decides what to do when things go other than planned, so God is in charge and at any given moment has the option of choice (18:5–10). In some sense at least, prophetic announcements are conditional. God is not arbitrary; repentance makes a difference.

18:11–17. The principle stated in verses 6–8 is next applied to Judah (18:11–17). Their decision to follow their own stubborn heart is confirmed by their explicit statement (18:12).

God assesses their decision (18:13)—unlike the decision of other nations (2:10–11). The argument in 18:14 is that it is contrary to nature for snow to leave Lebanon. The seriousness of coming disaster is described by responses of others to it: scorn (18:16) is hissing or whistling in unbelief (see the CSB footnote). To show someone one’s face (18:17) is language for blessing and favor.

18:18–23. The decision to follow personal plans puts into effect plans to do away with the prophet (18:18). Priests, the wise, and prophets, along with kings, represent that society’s leaders.

Jeremiah’s prayer (18:19–23) incorporates elements similar to those in his other laments (see 11:18–23; 12:1–4; 15:10–21; 17:14–18). There is personal petition, complaint, and a call for God to bring vengeance. Evil has been paid him for the good he has done—specifically, he has sought the well-being of those now turned against him. The question of 18:20 could also be a question asked by his persecutors, who think of their actions as good.

We are shown an angry prophet. Against families (women, youths, children) Jeremiah would bring famine and sword (18:21). Even more, he prays for God to forestall any atonement for their sins (18:23). Here is a lapse in prophetic intercession. Even acknowledging that Jeremiah leaves the matter in God’s hands, he falls short of Jesus’s response to his enemies: “Father, forgive them” (Lk 23:34). One may, however, in Jeremiah’s response see mirrored how God in justice might deal with those opposing him.

19:1–15. The terrible message of doom is first made vivid to the elders by means of a smashed pot (19:1–13); later the same message is announced to all the people (19:14–15). Egyptians wrote names of enemies on pottery jars and then smashed them, believing that such action magically triggered disaster. [Topheth]

F. Terror on every side (20:1–18). 20:1–6. Here is the first one-on-one announcement of the coming catastrophe. Pashhur might well have been among the religious leaders taken by Jeremiah on a tour to see Topheth (19:1–15). Jeremiah 20:3 catches the emotional dimension of the coming disaster. The name Terror Is on Every Side is a reversal of Pashhur, which, though Egyptian, in Aramaic might mean “Fruitful on Every Side.” Babylon, now named for the first time in the book (20:4), will be Pashhur’s destiny, not because he arrested Jeremiah, but because he collaborated in the big lie of announcing continued safety (8:10–11). In keeping with the principle of corporate personality or social solidarity, Pashhur’s household will share his fate (20:6).

20:7–13. The lament in 20:7–13 follows the classical lament pattern: complaint, statement of confidence, petition, and praise. Jeremiah’s address to God is daring. “Deceived” (20:7) is elsewhere rendered as “seduce” (Ex 22:16) but may here be used in the sense of persuading, though with a sinister purpose (cf. Pr 24:28). God has victimized the prophet. Jeremiah cries out as an innocent sufferer. To shout, “Violence” (20:8) is the equivalent of the modern “Emergency!”

Jeremiah’s personal frustration in dealing with an irresistible urge to speak (20:9) is compounded by external opposition (20:10). His support system has collapsed. His trusted friends mock him with the slogan of his own message, “Terror is on every side!”

The statement of confidence about God as warrior (20:11) harks back to Jeremiah’s call (1:8, 19). God’s vengeance contrasts with the enemy’s vengeance (20:12). Praise within a lament (20:13) is a standard component; one-third of all the psalms are classified as laments, and all but one (Ps 88) contain praise. In contrast to other laments, this one is not followed by a response from God.

20:14–18. The classical statement of cursing in 20:14–18 likely describes another occasion; otherwise its link with verse 13 presents a schizophrenic prophet. Or, this may be not Jeremiah’s curse but a standard outcry made by people caught in calamity. Cursing the day of one’s birth (20:14) stops short of cursing God (cf. Jb 3:2–10). Sodom and Gomorrah, totally destroyed, are the two cities of 20:16 (cf. Gn 19:24–28). The speaker, in his vexation of spirit, would have preferred to be stillborn or unborn (20:17–18). The death wish, if it is Jeremiah’s, arises not only out of personal despair but also out of the shocking public scene.

4. CHALLENGING KINGS AND PROPHETS (21:1–29:32)

The preceding chapters have introduced the message of doom (chaps. 2–10) and the reason for that message (chaps. 11–20). Beginning with this section we are more securely locked into datable historical, though chronologically disarranged, events. We hear of kings: Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah. We meet prophets: Hananiah, Ahab, Zedekiah, Shemaiah. The leaders bear major responsibility for Judah’s evil condition. Prose narrative dominates, which speaks of Jeremiah in the third person.

A. Addressing rulers and governments (21:1–23:8). 21:1–10. The first of two delegations from Zedekiah to Jeremiah is dated to 588 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, the famous ruler of Babylon (605–562), had earlier invaded Judah (597) and had appointed Zedekiah as king. Zedekiah, apparently persuaded by his advisors to invite Egypt’s help, had rebelled (cf. Jr 52:3). Now Nebuchadnezzar was back (21:2).

The delegation wonders whether God might intervene, as he did when Hezekiah was threatened by Sennacherib and the Assyrians (2 Kg 19:35–36). Pashhur (21:1) is not to be identified with the priest of 20:1–6; this Pashhur later calls for Jeremiah’s death (38:1–6). Jeremiah as an intermediary is approached for information.

Jeremiah’s answer is bad news. Judah’s weapons will be turned back on them (21:4), possibly through Babylonian capture or because of confusion during a rapid retreat. Judah faces a God who fights not for them but against them. Jeremiah 21:5 is holy-war language.

The fate of Zedekiah and his officials—death by the sword of Nebuchadnezzar (21:7)—is fulfilled in 52:8–11. Jeremiah’s counsel for the people to surrender peacefully to the Babylonians (also called Chaldeans) brands him a traitor (21:8–10).

21:11–22:9. The passage about God-pleasing government is in two symmetrical parts (21:11–14 and 22:1–9): instruction (21:11–12), announcement (21:13–14), instruction (22:1–3), announcement (22:4–9).

The instruction is first to the royal dynasty generally, almost as if by way of review (21:11–12; cf. Dt 17:18–20; 1 Kg 3:28). Jeremiah walks downhill from the temple to the palace to address a specific ruler of David’s line, possibly Zedekiah (22:1–3). The initial call in either case is for the king to be a guardian of justice, which may be defined as “love in action” or “honorable relations.” Clearly “justice” goes beyond legal court decisions and is expressed in social concern for the oppressed and for the marginal people, those readily exploited or cheated.

The announcement in the first half (21:13–14) assumes a history of failure. God is poised to move against Jerusalem (not named, but inferred from the feminine forms in Hebrew; cf. 21:5). Jerusalem has valleys on three of its sides; the rocky plateau is Mount Zion. “Forest” refers to the pillars in the palace or to the palace itself, called “House of the Forest of Lebanon” (1 Kg 7:2).

The announced promise in the second half (22:4–9) is of good things for the royal house or dynasty and is followed by a warning.

22:10–12. The verdicts about Judah’s kings may at one time have been isolated statements. Or, if Zedekiah is the king to whom 21:11–22:9 is addressed, they may have been spoken for his benefit.

Jehoahaz’s failures are detailed first (22:10–12). The dead king (22:10) is Josiah, Judah’s king for thirty-one years who died in battle at Megiddo in 609 BC, apparently in an attempt to halt the Egyptians. He who has gone away is Shallum (22:11–12), whose regal name was Jehoahaz, the fourth-oldest son of Josiah (1 Ch 3:15). He came to the throne at age twenty-three, in 609 BC, and ruled only three months. Pharaoh Neco of Egypt declared his suzerainty over Judah by taking Jehoahaz captive, first to Riblah, north of Damascus, and then to Egypt, where he died (2 Kg 23:31–34; 2 Ch 36:1–4).

22:13–16. Jeremiah’s sharpest and most extended critique is directed at the despot Jehoiakim, who ruled 609–597 (see 2 Kg 23:34–24:6). Midway through his eleven-year reign he became a vassal of the Babylonians. Jeremiah attacks Jehoiakim’s ostentation and covetousness in connection with a new palace.

A woe statement (22:13), while common in Jeremiah (23:1; 48:1), is more frequent in Isaiah (Is 5:8, 11, 18, 20–21). “Unrighteousness” is lack of inner integrity, and “injustice” is failure to be honorable in transactions. Justice was to be a ruler’s first concern (21:11; 23:5; Mc 3:1–3). Specifically, Jehoiakim cheated his workers out of pay or resorted to forced labor. Because of the heavy tribute to Egypt, he may have been unable to pay (2 Kg 23:35). Large rooms, windows, cedar paneling—a luxury (cf. Hg 1:4)—and red paint signal showiness (22:14). Jehoiakim was obsessed with acquiring wealth and with shedding innocent blood.

Jehoiakim’s insensitivity to the urgency of the times was in contrast with Josiah’s overriding concern to do what was right and just (22:15–16). Concretely this meant acts of compassion and caring for the poor. Knowing (i.e., experiencing) God consists of such caregiving (cf. 9:23).

22:17–23. “Extortion” (22:17), in its verb and noun forms, occurs more than fifty times in the OT. In many contexts the term carries nuances of force or violence, and sometimes misuse of power. In more than half the occurrences, the context also specifies poverty.

People will not hold Jehoiakim, who wants so much to be a somebody, in regard, nor will they express loss at his death or care for his supposed accomplishments, his “majesty” (22:18). The oracle with the catchword “Lebanon” (22:20, 23) is directed in the feminine to Jerusalem.

Casemate wall remains from a royal citadel (seventh century BC) at Ramat Rachel, where Jehoiakim may have built his palace (Jr 22:13–14)

The accusation is that of disobedience. Shepherds are civil rulers; “lovers” refers to Egypt, Assyria, Moab, and the like, who will be driven off by the wind (fulfilled in 597) (22:22).

22:24–30. Jehoiachin, known as (Je)Coniah, was Jehoiakim’s eighteen-year-old son who succeeded him and reigned for three months in 598–597 (2 Kg 24:8–12). The signet ring (22:24) was used to stamp official correspondence. The queen mother was Nehushta (22:26; cf. 2 Kg 24:8). Jeremiah’s prediction was fulfilled in 597 (2 Kg 24:15). The last comment about Jehoiachin is about improved conditions in exile, where he died (Jr 52:31–34).

“Pot” (22:28) is a term for a degraded quality of jar. The address to land is likely a call for a witness (22:29; cf. 6:19). The threefold iteration marks intensity (cf. Is 6:3). Jehoiachin had seven sons (1 Ch 3:17–19), none of whom ruled. Zerubbabel, Jehoiachin’s grandson, returned to Jerusalem to become governor, not king. Since Zedekiah, Judah’s last king, preceded Jehoiachin in death, Jehoiachin in effect marked the end of a 350-year Davidic dynasty (22:30).

23:1–6. The righteous branch is celebrated in 23:1–6. A general woe is spoken to all rulers, known in the ancient world as shepherds (23:1; cf. Ezk 34). God notes and repays officials who have misused their office. The charge “you have scattered” (23:2) refers to the scattering into exile that will be the result of sins such as child sacrifice, which kings condoned and even encouraged. Restoration to the land of those scattered will be a chief theme of the Book of Comfort (Jr 30–33, esp. 30:3; 31:17) and Ezekiel (11:17; 20:42; and 37:21).

“Branch” (23:5) is familiar language in discussion of royal family trees (Is 10:33–11:4) and serves as a messianic title (Is 4:2; Zch 3:8; 6:12). This promise, one of the few messianic promises in Jeremiah, is echoed in 33:15–16. Justice and righteousness will be the trademark of the coming ideal king, as it was to have been of all kings. The name “The LORD Is Our Righteousness” (23:6) memorably embodies God’s concern for justice.

23:7–8. The oracle about a glorious return from exile is elaborated in chapters 30–31. The exodus from Egypt was significant in shaping a people. So will the “new” exodus of the exiles, the descendants of Israel, inaugurate a new era. The return took place in 538 BC and partially fulfilled the oracle, which promised more-spectacular things. It has been noted that a god-sized problem was given a God-sized solution.

B. Addressing prophets and their audiences (23:9–40). The challenge to leaders continues. The address to the kings, the civil leaders (21:1–23:6), is followed by an address to the religious leaders, the prophets and priests (23:9–40). They are faulted for giving leadership in Baal worship, for personal immorality, and for being out of touch with God’s message for their time. Their message either is self-originated or comes by dreams or is borrowed from others.

23:9–10. Jeremiah’s denunciation of his peers is sad before it is harsh (23:9; cf. 9:1–6). Confronting persons with their evil is difficult for a caring person. However, so strong and overpowering are God’s words to Jeremiah that, like a drunken man, he feels himself out of control. Since elsewhere the figure of drunkenness is used for those on whom God’s wrath comes (13:13–14; 25:15–16), we perhaps should see here a man absorbing punishment intended for his colleagues. [Bones]

Jeremiah 23:10 depicts the results for which the prophets are held accountable. “Adulterers” may literally refer to faithless marriage partners (5:8). Like Hosea before him (Hs 1–3), Jeremiah uses adultery to depict the faithlessness of a people to their God. Curses follow covenant breaking. The environment (land) is affected by the people’s immorality (cf. Hs 4:1–3). Drought and famine are described in chapters 14–15.

23:11–15. The word “ungodly” begins the accusation and ends the announcement against the corrupt clergy (23:11). “Ungodly” translates a Hebrew word meaning “to pollute,” “to defile,” or “to profane.” It means to live in opposition to all that is right. The wickedness in the temple is described elsewhere (2 Kg 16:10–14; 23:7; Ezk 8:6–18). The prophets’ fate is compared to walking in slippery places in the dark (23:12).

Two groups of prophets are identified, the second more evil than the first. Samaria (23:13) was the capital of the ten northern tribes; it fell to the Assyrians a century earlier in 722. The horrible scene in Jerusalem (23:14) consists of immoralities comparable to those in Sodom and Gomorrah, cities known for their thoroughgoing corruption. The charge of adultery is laid against Ahab and Zedekiah. Lying suggests that these are special “con men.”

Jeremiah warns of disaster, but false prophets speak soothing platitudes of presumptuous optimism. They tell people what they want to hear. In this crisis of prophetic ministry, each side accuses the other. Bitter food and poisoned water (23:15) are both results of army invasions. Food will be in short supply; water sources could be poisoned by the enemy.

23:16–22. The false prophets’ messages are misleading and wrong; they are self-induced and not God-originated (23:16). The prophets give their benediction to God-despisers (23:17). False prophets make things easy.

Prophetic ministry calls for careful listening and looking during the divine briefing session (23:18, 22). Jeremiah 23:19–20 must be understood as the council’s “decision”: a whirlwind of wrath from God will crash on the heads of evildoers. Meanwhile, false prophets, altogether out of touch with the purposes of God’s heart, predict peaceful times. When the future judgment comes, the people will understand it clearly.

23:23–32. Dreams are essentially (though not completely) discounted as a vehicle of divine communication. Fascination with dreams has become a substitute for interest in God’s name (23:27). As though sifting chaff, a true prophet ought to distinguish ordinary dreams from God’s fire-like word (23:28–29a), to which Jeremiah gave testimony in 20:9. God’s word, like a hammer, has force (23:29b); dreams are inconsequential fluff. Reaching for a message to proclaim, these prophets resort to stealing a word from fellow prophets, either their contemporaries or those of an earlier time (23:30).

God is against pseudoprophets who plagiarize, misrepresent him, and wish to be sensational (23:31–32). Prophets are called to expose evil. Those who fail to do so do not help God’s people.

A bronze sledgehammer head. God declares, “Is not my word like fire . . . and like a hammer that pulverizes rock?” (Jr 23:29).

23:33–40. In the next passage the prophet puns on a word that can mean either “oracle,” a weighty message, or “burden,” something that is physically carried (23:33; see the CSB footnote). The abruptness of frequent questions in 23:33–40 gives a sense of confusion, no doubt purposely, so as to characterize the religious scene.

Jeremiah alone is depicted as having the true word from the Lord. The word is that God will abandon his people. Jeremiah 23:37–38 chides the people, who, it would seem, go from prophet to prophet to get new or better-sounding messages.

C. Divine anger (24:1–25:38). From concerns about kings and prophets, we move in rapid succession to the future: Judah’s, Babylon’s, and that of other nations. In his anger—a key theme—God consigns Judah to seventy years of desolation, Babylon to devastation, and all the nations to destruction.

24:1–10. Either in a vision or in actuality, Jeremiah sees two baskets of figs (24:1–3). These stand for two major population groups. The date is 597 BC. Judah now has two rulers: one exiled and one reigning. With whom does the future lie? Two baskets of figs, possibly brought to the temple as a first-fruit offering (Dt 16:9–12), evoke the Lord’s answer.

In the interpretation, the future surprisingly is with the exiles (24:5), though the reason, apart from God’s initiative and choice, is not given. God can plan calamity or good. The words of 24:6 were important in Jeremiah’s call (1:10). The covenant formula—“They will be my people, and I will be their God”—captures God’s design for bondedness (24:7). Here spiritual restoration follows physical return to the land; elsewhere, spiritual restoration seems to precede the homecoming (cf. 31:18–22).

The survivors in the homeland feel that God’s future with his people will be with them (24:8–10). The obvious conclusion, however, is the wrong conclusion. Some Jews may have been carried to Egypt with Jehoahaz (2 Kg 23:34); others went there later (Jr 43:7). The siege of 597 had not completely fulfilled the prophecies for disaster, as some may have thought. Jeremiah overturns popular beliefs.

25:1–7. Chronologically, 25:1–14 precedes chapter 24. The date, when allowance is made for variant practices in counting regnal years, can be synchronized with Dn 1:1 to be 605 BC. Soon after the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, between the Egyptians and the Babylonians (46:2), Nebuchadnezzar succeeded Nabopolassar as king. In 609 BC Jehoiakim followed the godly Josiah to the throne. Since Josiah’s rule began in 640 BC, the thirteenth year (25:3) was 627/626 BC. In much of the book Jeremiah has spoken in the first person; here (as also in 20:1–6; 21:1–10; 26:12–15) he is referred to in the third person.

The summary of the prophet’s ministry is in the form of an accusation. It emphasizes the people’s failure to listen, a charge made more than thirty times in the book. Jeremiah 25:4 translates an idiom about early rising (“time and time again”; see the CSB footnote). A spiritual turnaround is here linked, as elsewhere, with continued occupancy in the land. Prophets reinforce the first of the Ten Commandments through their warnings (25:6; cf. Ex 20:3).

Jeremiah prophesies that the exile will last seventy years (Jr 25:11; 29:10). This prophecy is cited in Dn 9:2 and 2 Ch 36:21. Ezra 1:1 is also probably alluding to this prophecy.

25:8–14. The announcement in 25:9–10 identifies the northerner with Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon for the first time. “My servant,” also used to describe the prophets, is used here in the sense of “agent.” Surrounding nations, such as Edom and Moab, like Judah were in Babylon’s path to Egypt. “Completely destroy” (25:9) is a chilling term from the language of holy warfare, where it means “to destroy as in a sacrifice, leaving no survivor.”

Social life (marriages), business (millstones), and home life (light) will cease (25:10). Seventy years (25:12), if intended literally, are best calculated from 605 (an early Babylonian attack) to 535 (the first return came in 538). Other uses of the number, including in Assyrian texts, suggest the number seventy to be a symbol for indefinite time (Ps 90:10). Whether the seventy years is understood literally or symbolically, God will bring certain judgment against Babylon for its pride (cf. Jr 50:31). The punishment fits the crime (25:14).

Millstones from ancient Israel. As part of God’s judgment on Judah, the millstones will fall silent (Jr 25:10).

25:15–29. As in a vision, the prophet sees the cup of the wrath of God (25:15). It contains God’s fury, which is associated with sword and destruction (25:16, 27; cf. Is 51:17–23; cf. Lm 4:21; Rv 18:6). As wine intoxicates and confuses, so this “wine” will affect the nations. God’s people in Judah are the first to drink (25:18). The scene of destruction and the resulting aspersions cast on Judah are presumably repeated for the other nations mentioned.

The roster of nations—nations from every point on the compass—begins with Egypt in the south and ends with Babylon to the east (25:19–26). These two were the superpowers of that century. Jeremiah 25:20, 24 designate smaller, usually adjacent kingdoms and allies. Uz bordered the desert east of Jordan. The Philistine city-states lay between Judah and the Mediterranean.

Edom was to the south of Judah; Moab and Ammon were to the east (25:21). Tyre and Sidon were in the north (25:22). Dedan, Tema, and Buz were in the Arabian desert (25:23). Zimri is unknown (25:25). Sheshach is a code name for Babylon (25:26; see the CSB footnote). Jeremiah, as foretold (1:10), is a prophet to the nations.

Jerusalem is the city that bears God’s name (25:29). If God’s people are not spared because of their sin, how will others, whose sin is presumably greater, fare?

25:30–38. The poem of verses 30–38, a repetition and reflection of verses 15–29, begins and ends with an angry God (25:30–31, 37–38). The poem is charged with emotion. With vigor and vehemence God moves against Judah/Israel and all humanity.

Beyond massive deaths of the “flock,” the leaders, the high and mighty ones, along with their own deaths, face the dismantling of all they have known (25:34–36).

D. Jeremiah versus the people (26:1–24). Numerous accusations against the kings, prophets, and people in preceding chapters are confirmed in the incidents that follow. A sermon on repentance brings a near lynching (chap. 26). A yoke with its sign message of surrender serves to unmask a false prophet (chaps. 27–28). A letter discloses sinister power plays (chap. 29). It has been argued, quite plausibly, that Baruch compiled these vignettes from Jeremiah’s life.

26:1–6. Chapter 26 supplies details surrounding the temple sermon recorded in 7:1–15. Here the focus is on the audience’s response. In 609, Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, who humiliated Judah to vassal status, appointed Jehoiakim king (26:1; cf. 2 Kg 23:34–35). The public address given early in his reign, likely in 609/608, appeals for general repentance (cf. 25:4–7).

Jeremiah 26:3 appeals to the principle laid out in 18:7–8: God does not desire the death of the wicked (Ezk 33:11). Shiloh (26:6), north of Jerusalem in Ephraimite territory, was the central worship place during the time of the judges (1 Sm 1–4). It was destroyed, likely by the Philistines, in the middle of the eleventh century, more than four hundred years before Jeremiah. The threat is against both the prized three-hundred-year-old temple and the cherished city of Jerusalem. For a nation that has just lost its revered king, Josiah, and has been subjugated by Egypt, further disaster seems intolerable.

26:7–16. Priests and prophets, whose livelihood depends on the temple, are enraged (26:7–9). Promoters of “civil religion,” they fail to hear the call to repent. They interpret the threat against temple and city (both held to be divinely chosen) as blasphemy, which calls for the death penalty (26:11; cf. Lv 24:10–16; 1 Kg 21:13). Court trials were held in the city gate area (26:10). Ostensibly Jeremiah is on trial; in reality the people are on trial.

Jeremiah answers the leaders’ question; he is divinely deputized (26:12). Instead of qualifying the message, he reiterates it together with another appeal (26:13–15). The crowd, initially on the side of the priests and prophets, comes over to the side of the officials (26:16).

26:17–24. The elders invoke precedent for sparing Jeremiah (26:17–19). A century earlier, Micah, like Jeremiah, threatened destruction for both temple and city in the name of the Lord (Mc 3:12). Hezekiah’s response is recorded in 2 Kg 18:4 and 2 Ch 29–31. The evil his repentance forestalled was perhaps Sennacherib’s advance on Jerusalem.

Baruch, the likely compiler of this section, adds 26:20–23 to indicate the risk Jeremiah takes. Elnathan, a high official, possibly Jehoiachin’s father-in-law (2 Kg 24:8), will later urge restraint on behalf of Jeremiah (Jr 36:25). An additional indignity for the prophet Uriah was burial as a stateless citizen, likely in the Kidron Valley (2 Kg 23:6). Ahikam of the Shaphan family (26:24) was the father of Gedaliah, governor of Judah after 586 BC (Jr 40:5).

E. Submit to Babylon’s yoke! (27:1–28:17). The northerner Babylon has come. Jeremiah has preached repentance (25:5). Now he “meddles” in foreign policy and urges submission to Babylon rather than resistance or revolt. This unusual counsel, given not from a politician but from a prophet, is pressed on the visiting envoys, on Zedekiah himself, and on the priests and people. Each group is instructed to submit to Babylon; each is warned not to heed false prophets.

27:1–11. The sign act of carrying a wooden yoke makes the message memorable: surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. It comes early in Zedekiah’s reign, likely 593 (27:1). In 597 Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah to rule (2 Kg 24:15–20). The plot by a coalition of surrounding small states, who like Judah are in Nebuchadnezzar’s grip, is to revolt. The time for revolt seems auspicious since Nebuchadnezzar is attending to some revolts nearer home. Also, Pharaoh Neco of Egypt died in 594, and his successor is engaged in wars.

Envoys are on hand in Jerusalem to persuade Zedekiah or perhaps have been invited by him. Jeremiah, as a prophet to the nations (1:10), gives them the Lord’s word: submit!

The yoke is likely an ox yoke consisting of leather straps and a carrying frame (27:2). It is one of Jeremiah’s several sign acts (chaps. 13; 19; 32; 43). The accompanying message is compelling.

Assyrian wall relief depicting oxen yoked together and hitched to carts. God instructs Jeremiah to wear a yoke as an image of subjugation (Jr 27:2). The prophet Hananiah later breaks Jeremiah’s yoke (Jr 28:10), eliciting God’s rebuke.

© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Courtesy of the British Museum, London, England.

Ancient kings surrounded themselves with prophets and soothsayers. The latter were forbidden in Israel (Lv 19:26; Dt 18:10–11). Jeremiah brands as liars prophets who give their support to the planned insurrection (27:9–10). Jeremiah fights for a hearing both inside and outside of Judah. Everywhere he preaches his unwelcome message of disaster (and now of surrender), it is contested and contradicted.

27:12–22. The same message is given to the king and to the people (27:12–15)—as the plurals of 27:12 indicate. False prophets, such as Hananiah (chap. 28), also speak in the Lord’s name. To follow these prophets is to follow a lie (27:14). It is the way of kings to meet force with force; to submit is alien strategy.

The twofold refrain continues (27:16–22): submit to Babylon; be warned against false prophets. The temple, in which the priests had vested interests, is prominent. Some temple articles had been carried off by Babylon in 605 (Dn 1:2) and again in 597 (2 Kg 24:13). Optimistically, false prophets predict these will be speedily recovered (27:16). Jeremiah announces eventual recovery (27:22). True prophets are marked by intercession (27:18). [False Prophecy in the Old Testament]

28:1–11. The year 594–593, in which there was plotting of a revolt, must be assigned to both chapters 27 and 28 if one takes “in that same year” (28:1) seriously. Hananiah, whose name means “The Lord Is Gracious,” hailed from Gibeon, a town five miles northwest of Jerusalem. He is repeatedly called “prophet” (28:1, 5, 10, 12, 15, 17). Both Jeremiah and Hananiah speak in the name of “the LORD of Armies” (28:2). Hananiah, however, directly contradicts Jeremiah’s announcement in 27:16–22. While both predict the return of temple furnishings (28:3; cf. 27:22), it is the time of their return that is at issue: two years (so Hananiah) or seventy years (so Jeremiah—25:12; 29:10). Hananiah also announces the return of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin, 28:4). The people now hear conflicting interpretations of the yoke sign act; the onus for a decision about the true prophet is on the people.

Jeremiah proposes two tests for the accuracy of a prophecy (28:5–9). Former prophets, given similar societal conditions, prophesied disaster (28:8). Examples would be Amos (2:4), Hosea (4:6), and Isaiah (3:13–15). The first test, then, is one of consistency with tradition. A second test has to do with the fulfillment of a prediction (28:9). Hananiah meets Jeremiah’s symbolic action with one of his own: he breaks the yoke (28:10–11). In so doing he endorses the proposed revolt against Nebuchadnezzar.

28:12–17. Jeremiah, who was clearly speaking for himself in 28:7, now speaks in the name of the Lord of Armies (28:14), branding Hananiah a liar (28:15). There is a pun on the word “sent”: “The LORD did not send you . . . I am about to send you off the face of the earth” (28:15–16a). Prophetic predictions to individuals other than kings are relatively rare. The preaching of rebellion (28:16b) calls for the death penalty (Dt 13:5; 18:20). Two months later there is one less false prophet (28:17).

F. A pastoral letter (29:1–32). Jeremiah’s letter to the Judean captives in Babylon advises them to adjust to the new circumstances and warns about false prophets and manipulators.

29:1–7. A brief explanation of the letter is given first (29:1–3). A full title for God opens the letter (29:4) before Jeremiah exhorts the people to work and pray (29:5–7). God is the ultimate agent of the exile. Jeremiah counsels the people to resume work because the exile will be long and not short, as the false prophets are announcing. His advice is also intended to forestall notions the exiles might have about revolting or assisting those who do. The exiles, who live in colonies (Ezk 3:15), seem to have considerable freedom.

To pray to God on behalf of the city (Babylon) is essentially to pray for one’s enemies (29:7). Prayer can be directed to the Lord in Babylon and not only in Jerusalem, the Lord’s land. Jeremiah urges intercession and good citizenship.

29:8–14. False prophets are active in Babylon as well as in the homeland (29:8–9). Their announcements and dreams are in response to people’s wishful thinking. And so both people and prophets are accountable for the lies.

God has good plans. Seventy years (29:10), counting from 605, the battle of Carchemish, would extend to 535 BC. Babylonian supremacy ended when Cyrus the Mede took Babylon in 539 BC. Jeremiah refers to restoration of the land, a promise, even if in the distance, to encourage homesick captives. God desires to bless his people, and his plans are firm (Is 46:10). In 29:11 “well-being” translates the Hebrew word shalom, a term denoting wholeness, harmony, and peace. Seeking God will be characteristic of the new “heart” (29:13; cf. 24:7). “A future and a hope” (29:11) is a Hebrew form that could be rendered “a future full of hope.” Along with physical restoration to the land, there will be spiritual restoration to God (29:14).

29:15–23. Prophets in Babylon (29:15), of whom Ahab and Zedekiah are examples (29:21), are optimistic about the rapid return to normalcy in Jerusalem. Jeremiah insists that the problems in Jerusalem have not yet peaked. Jerusalem’s king, Zedekiah, like the bad figs of the vision in 24:8–10, will come to grief (29:16–17). The reason for the disaster is that people have not listened (29:19). The exiles’ failure to listen makes the good plans of verses 10–14 all the more remarkable.

The letter to the exiles continues with an exposé of the prophets Ahab and Zedekiah, of whom nothing more is known (29:21). They operate under false pretenses and without a mandate. Their fate, execution by burning, is foretold (29:22); otherwise, there is no record of it. In Judah the decimation of Jerusalem will prompt curses of others; a counterpart in the exile will be the curse occasioned by the two prophets. The reason for their fate is sin in both their personal life (adultery) and in their vocational life (speaking lies) (29:23).

29:24–32. In a power maneuver calculated to diminish Jeremiah’s influence, Shemaiah in Babylon by unilateral action appoints Zephaniah as priest (29:24–26a). The priest was also head of the temple police (cf. Jr 20:1). Shemaiah, more concerned about “political” points of view than temple service, instructs Zephaniah to arrest persons, madmen like Jeremiah, whose views differ from his own (29:26b–28). For an unknown reason, Zephaniah discloses the contents of the letter (29:29).

The flow of the material is a problem. Perhaps 29:29 is a parenthetical explanation. This would mean that Jeremiah reviewed the contents of Zephaniah’s letter (29:25–29). Or, the rehearsal of the incident (29:24–29) is an insert, perhaps by Baruch, to help the reader make sense of Jeremiah’s announcement about Shemaiah (29:31–32). Still another possibility is that 29:30–32 represents a later letter from Jeremiah, since Shemaiah in his letter refers to instructions, presumably from Jeremiah’s pastoral letter.

5. THE BOOK OF COMFORT (30:1–33:26)

As now arranged, the book so far has had several urgent warnings, some earnest pleas, and many dire announcements of coming disaster. By contrast, chapters 30–33 fulfill that part of Jeremiah’s assignment that called for building and planting (1:10). Now come promises of return from exile, of a secure and stable society in the homeland, and of an intimate relationship once again of people with their God. The “book” proper is in poetry (chaps. 30–31); the prose expansion (chaps. 32–33) continues the theme of a bright prospect.

A. Coming back to the land (30:1–24). 30:1–3. Generally the address is to “Israel”; other names for these people are Jacob, Rachel, and Ephraim. The specific word to Judah is short (31:23–24, 38–40). The theme of the book is the future.

30:4–11. Jeremiah 30:4–7 is the backdrop against which the following promises of comfort must be seen. Cries of fear indicate a people in great trouble (30:4). The setting could be the Assyrian capture of Samaria in 722, the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 587, or any calamity, past or future. Childbirth (30:6) is a frequent illustration in Jeremiah of great distress, anxiety, and pain (4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 49:24).

The reference to breaking the yoke in 30:8 recalls Jeremiah’s sign act. Two nations that held Israel captive were Assyria and Babylon. “David their king” (30:9) can hardly refer to the tenth-century monarch but refers rather to one of his descendants. “Do not be afraid” is salvation language (30:10). “Save,” with its sense of release from confinement, is an apt term to describe being freed from exile. “I will be with you” is the divine-assistance formula (30:11).

30:12–17. Using the metaphor of injury and healing, the oracle of 30:12–17 sets the tone for the specific announcements that will follow. The “wound” (30:12) is figurative for the calamity, namely, the takeover of the country by a foreign power and the removal of its population into exile. It is beyond healing in the sense that the pain of punishment for sin must be endured (30:13–15).

The God who has afflicted is the God who will heal (30:17a). God will deal decisively with the agents of punishment (30:16). The reasons for God’s dealing with them are not given here but are given elsewhere (see Jr 46–51). The sorry plight of God’s people is depicted (30:17b) before the promise of reversal is given. The nations’ disparaging statements move God to action.

30:18–24. Jeremiah 30:18 introduces a new oracle and a new theme: rebuilding a ruined city and living in it to the full. “I will certainly restore the fortunes” is now applied to buildings and to society. Laughter replaces terror and agony; honor replaces reproach (30:19). A leader from within replaces a foreign (or, like Zedekiah, a foreign-appointed) overlord (30:21).

Jeremiah uses “sickness” as a symbol for sin and its judgment, pointing to the messianic age as a time of “healing” (Jr 30:12–17). Jesus’s healing ministry is both literal (a physical healing) and symbolic (restoration and forgiveness).

Jeremiah 30:23–24 is to be understood as a guarantee by oath of good times ahead. Good times are possible if the enemies are removed. The verses repeat 23:19–20, where they are the conclusion of the heavenly council. What seems too good to be true will really happen.

B. Coming back to God (31:1–40). This chapter is striking for its news and its exuberance. The recovery of the land (chap. 30) is followed by the recovery of a relationship with God (chap. 31). God is pictured successively as father, shepherd, mother, and covenant maker. The announcement of the coming restoration is given first to the exiles (31:1–9), then to the nations (31:10–14), and then to Israel (31:15–22) and Judah (31:23–26). The concluding section is in three parts, each beginning with “Look, the days are coming” (31:27–30, 31–37, 38–40).

31:1–9. The covenant formula (31:1) is the basis for the great trek (31:7–9). A reference to distress (31:2) prepares for promise. The refugees from both the Assyrian invasion of Israel in 722 BC and the Babylonian invasion of 586 BC survive. Only here in Jeremiah is God the subject of love (31:3).

“Again,” used three times and in Hebrew each time in first position, anticipates the reconstruction process, the return of joyful times, uninterrupted economic pursuits, and vigorous religious activity (31:4–5). If people from Ephraim (a name for the northern kingdom) come to Zion (Jerusalem), it will mean a united Israel in worship (31:6).

“The northern land” (31:8) likely refers to the Habor River region, to which the Assyrians took the northern kingdom captive. The weeping in the new exodus may be tears of reform from sin, tears of joy for deliverance, or both (31:9). God, the Father, is the initiator of the trek and its protector.

31:10–14. Nations, even distant islands, hear the message of Israel’s regathering, of her return, and of her abundance. Such a message would reverse the slurring byword spoken by them about Israel’s destroyed cities.

31:15–22. Laments, in one sense, stir God to action (31:15). The hope-filled future of 29:11 is now elaborated as Jeremiah describes the return of the prodigal.

Matthew reports that in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus, Herod the Great orders the slaughter of the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who are two years old or younger (Mt 2:16). Matthew regards this event as the fulfillment of Jr 31:15. Jesus escapes only because his parents flee to Egypt for the duration of Herod’s life (he died in 4 BC).

“Ephraim” here designates the ten northern tribes (31:18). The pun on “turn” and “return” intermingles turning to (or away from) God and (re)turning to the land. Israel’s repentance is like that earlier prescribed. Striking the thigh was a gesture of great feeling, especially of remorse (31:19).

God’s response is mother-like. The word for “compassion” (31:20) is a derivative from the term for “womb.” God reprimands and rebukes Israel for its sins. Still, the two, God and Ephraim, have found each other and have been reconciled.

Jeremiah 31:21–22 rounds off a promise introduced in verses 3–6. Verse 22 has evoked much discussion. “Something new” is puzzling (see the CSB footnotes), but it likely anticipates the new covenant of verse 31 in some way.

31:23–26. Verses 23–26 focus on Judah, the southern kingdom, in contrast to Israel, the northern kingdom. “Righteous settlement” refers to the temple on Mount Zion, God’s dwelling (31:23). A restored people will be a worshiping people. Farmers, settled on their land, often clashed with roaming shepherds who disregarded property rights (31:24). These will now coexist peacefully. The unexpected reference to sleep in 31:26 may mean: “This is all too good to be true.”

31:27–30. God promises to plant or repopulate the territories that have been decimated (31:27–28). God watched over Jeremiah’s first assignment announcing destruction; he will watch over the second one announcing recovery. The proverb about grapes and teeth restates (and exaggerates) Ex 20:5 and Nm 14:18 (31:29–30). Complaints that the children’s miseries (the exile) were the result of the fathers’ sins (Manasseh) will cease. People are individually accountable.

31:31–37. In the justly famous salvation oracle of 31:31–37, an unprecedented announcement takes shape. A covenant, differing from a contract, is an arrangement of bonding between persons. The old covenant from Sinai (Ex 19:5–6) was broken and is no longer operative (31:32). A fresh arrangement, not a covenant renewal, is put into effect (31:31). It is God’s prerogative and his initiative (cf. repetitions: “I will . . .” and “this is the LORD’s declaration”).

Jesus inaugurates the new covenant of Jeremiah (Jr 31:31–34) at the Last Supper (Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20; 1 Co 11:23–26).

In Jeremiah’s analysis, the heart is deceitful and stubborn (3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 17:1, 9). God’s law or teaching in the heart is the equivalent of a new heart (31:33). The objective of the Sinai covenant, “I will be their God, and they will be my people,” remains. Ancient nations associated their gods with territories. The binding of a deity to a people is unique in world religions.

Knowing God is more explicitly “experiencing God” (31:34). The new covenant marks the end of the teaching profession. The new covenant passage (31:31–34), the longest Scripture quoted in the NT (Heb 8:7–12), is said to be fulfilled in Christ. Quite possibly, judging from 31:33, originally only Israel was in view. Later, Judah was included (31:31). The NT promise includes the Gentiles.

Just as the first half of the poetic Book of Comfort ends with an oath-like statement (30:23–24), so also here (31:35–37). The creation is an expression of the “LORD of Armies” (31:35). The “fixed order” describes the laws that govern the natural elements of the universe (31:36). Israel’s continuous existence as a people is guaranteed by the natural ordering of the universe (31:37).

31:38–40. The repeated announcement of a return of the exiles to the homeland and the rebuilding of a city climax in the specifics of 31:38–40. The place-names specify the extent of the rebuilt and enlarged Jerusalem. More important than the boundaries is the fact that the city will be for the Lord, holy and permanent (31:38, 40).

C. A property purchase (32:1–44). The prophet’s purchase of a field becomes a sign. After the fiery destruction of Jerusalem, people will eventually return to the city. Normal commerce will resume.

32:1–15. The purchase takes the form of a sign act (cf. 13:1–14; 19:1–13; 27:1–7). The instruction is brief (32:6); so is the initial interpretation (32:15). Most attention is given to the report of compliance. A man who through poverty or debt was about to forfeit his land was to solicit a next of kin to buy it (32:8; cf. Lv 25:25–28; cf. Ru 4:7).

The business transaction is given in detail—one of the fullest records we have on such matters. Scales were used to weigh bars or rings of silver (32:9–10). The two copies of the transaction, transcribed either on clay tablets or on papyrus, would be identical (32:11). The unsealed copy would be accessible. The sealed copy would be opened only if the unsealed copy were tampered with or lost. The accompanying divine message (32:15) confirms the announcements of hope found elsewhere in the book, some of which undoubtedly preceded this sign act.

32:16–25. Apparently the purchase happens quickly and certainly without the prophet’s forethought. Jeremiah is perplexed about his own action (32:25). Given the state of siege and his own prediction that Babylon will capture Jerusalem, his investment seems foolish (32:24).

Jeremiah’s prayer extols God as Creator (32:17). Recalling God’s power in creation brings fresh perspective in prayer. The name “LORD of Armies” (32:18) refers to God’s rule of both celestial bodies and military armies. The name, therefore, is a bridge between God’s work in creation and in history.

32:26–44. In reply, the Lord first addresses the immediate circumstance of the invasion and then elaborates on the sign act of the purchase. “Is anything too difficult for me?” (32:27) puts into question form Jeremiah’s opening assertion (32:17). Judah’s sins—the list is familiar—are said to have provoked God’s anger (32:30–35).

Judgment, however, is not the last word. The regathering of a dispersed people and their return to the homeland are familiar themes (32:37), especially in the Book of Comfort. The permanent covenant (32:40) is called the “new covenant” in 31:31–34, where themes of a covenant people and a new heart are taken up.

God’s beneficent intentions are not in doubt (32:42). Bustling commercial activity will characterize Benjamin, which is adjacent to Judah in the north, the hill country farther north, and cities in the Negev, such as Beersheba (32:44).

D. Things great and unsearchable (33:1–26). Positive announcements about a glorious future for city and people tumble over one another in this passage. Divine pardon, energetic praise songs, enterprising shepherds, established royal and priestly lines, and a united and permanent people—all are part of the kaleidoscope of future assurance. In content the chapter duplicates and slightly expands chapters 30–31.

33:1–13. The promise of restoration extends to both city and country. When judgment has been completed, wholeness will be God’s gift (33:6). God’s general stance of goodwill contrasts with the wrath that precipitated the destruction (33:5).

Both Judah and Israel are in view (33:7). God mercifully forgives sin and iniquities (33:8). The city of Jerusalem and God’s people generally are intended as a prime exhibit of his goodness, which should prompt repentance (33:9). Celebrations will mark the future, in stark contrast to earlier mourning (33:10–11). The empty land will be populated. Jeremiah 33:13 refers to the shepherd’s taking nightly inventory of the flock. Life will be back to its routine. [Jesus and the Reversal of Jeremiah’s Curses]

33:14–26. The city’s safety is not separate from a spiritual realignment. “Justice” relates to observable behavior and whether it is correct before God; “righteousness” describes inner integrity (33:15). The promise to David (33:17; cf. 2 Sm 7:13) is guaranteed by the fixed appointment of day and night (33:20–21). The covenant with the Levites (33:18; cf. Nm 25:12–13; Mal 2:5) is similarly guaranteed. The Davidic and Abrahamic covenants (2 Sm 7:8–16; Gn 15:1–21; 17:1–27) are the background for 33:26.

The popular opinion that “it is all over” would be understandable, even if inaccurate, following the demise of Israel in 721 BC and Judah in 586 BC. The strong guarantees (33:25–26) essentially repeat 31:36–38, except that the continuation of the Davidic monarch is of paramount concern.

6. CASE STUDIES IN THE FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP (34:1–39:18)

Incidents from the reigns of two kings, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, are told in chapters 34–39. The actors include Jeremiah, princes, and the Rechabite family. The stories, not chronological, are prelude to the fall of Jerusalem (chap. 39). “Fire” and “burning” are key words. The stories are a forceful commentary on ungodly leadership and on spiritual rebellion. Here is the account of the total rejection of the word of God, whether received via a scroll or from a prophet. Both ungodly leadership and spiritual rebellion are reasons for the burning destruction of chapter 39.

A. Going back on one’s word (34:1–21). Chapters 34 and 35, when taken together, display a similar pattern:

Organization of Jeremiah 34 and 35
Prophetic revelation formula	34:8a	35:1
Report of incident	34:8b–11	35:2–11
Prophetic revelation formula	34:12a	35:12–13a
Retelling of incident	34:12b–16	35:13b–16
General announcement	34:17–20	35:17
Particularized announcement	34:21–22	35:18–19

While the issues in the two stories are very different—national policy in the one case and diet in the other—the main idea in both is integrity in covenant keeping. The fickle King Zedekiah contrasts with the tenacious Rechabites. In both, Jeremiah complains, “You have not obeyed” (34:17; 35:16).

34:1–7. Jeremiah’s message deals with Zedekiah’s personal safety (cf. 21:1–10). “Burn it” (34:2) and “burned” are prominent terms in chapters 34–38, anticipating the burning of Jerusalem. Zedekiah’s fate (cf. 2 Kg 25:7) stops short of a violent death (34:3–5). A funeral fire, perhaps the burning of spices, indicates the citizenry’s goodwill. The promise of 34:4 is conditional on Zedekiah’s surrender to Babylon. [Azekah]

34:8–22. Persons in poverty or in a crisis of debt made themselves available as slaves. Mosaic law called for the release of slaves every seventh year (34:14; cf. Ex 21:1–11). The seriousness of siege apparently brings compliance with God’s law, perhaps to secure God’s favor, and the people of Jerusalem free their slaves (34:8–10). Freed slaves would defend the city better; owners need not be responsible for their provisions. When the siege slackens in the summer of 588 BC because the Babylonians leave to fend off the Egyptians, the king and others promptly go back on their word (34:11).

The incident inspires a sermon. Covenant making must be taken seriously. The rescinding of covenant is ultimately an offense against God, for it disregards God’s stipulations (34:16). To profane or desecrate is to make commonplace, to rob something of its special character, to render something that was holy unholy. What if God in his covenant making waffled, as did Zedekiah?

In the NT, the book of Hebrews explains the many ways in which Jeremiah’s new covenant (as inaugurated and mediated by Jesus) is superior to the old (Mosaic) covenant (Heb 8–9).

An accompanying ritual in covenant making included a “pass” between the two halves of a slain animal (34:18–19; cf. Gn 15:9–17). This ritual symbolized that covenant violators would be subject to the fate of the slain calf. The announced disaster is a consequence of Zedekiah’s violation. He will not be exempt, even though, for the moment, he has reason for optimism (34:21). God will turn the Babylonians around; they will be back (34:22).

B. Obedience (35:1–19). In nonhistorical sequence, but as a contrast to chapter 34, the story of the Rechabites focuses on uncompromising obedience.

35:1–11. The account is from the year 601 (35:11). The Rechabites are from the clan of the Kenites, a people who associated themselves with Israel (1 Ch 2:55). The Rechabites were a conservative, if not reactionary, group. No evaluation of the rightness or wrongness of their views is given, but their tenacity for obedience is applauded. Theirs is the prospect of a perpetual ministry.

35:12–19. Jeremiah’s commentary on the incident contrasts the absolute and unquestioning obedience of the Rechabites to their ancestor with Judah’s disobedience to the Lord (35:14). The people’s refusal to learn a lesson (“discipline,” 35:13) is a repeated accusation (2:30; 5:3; 7:28; 17:23). An example of this refusal occurs in 7:1–15. Themes about disobedience (34:17; 35:17b) and disaster (34:18–22; 35:17a) alternate in this and the preceding chapter.

C. The burning of a scroll (36:1–32). Like Zedekiah (chap. 34), Jehoiakim scorns the law of God. Incidentally, chapter 36 provides a glimpse into how books of the OT came to be.

36:1–8. God commands Jeremiah to write on a scroll (36:2–3). His restriction (36:5) may have resulted from his controversial temple sermon (7:1–15) or his lecture to the elders (19:1–20:6). Jeremiah had censured Jehoiakim for his extravagance and extortion in building a palace (22:13–23). Since the scroll was read three times in one day it may not have been that extensive. The purpose of the reading, despite the accusations and warnings, is to bring the people to a spiritual turnaround (36:7).

36:9–26. The scroll is read three times: at the temple to the people (36:10), in the secretaries’ room to the scribes (36:15), and at the royal winter apartment to the king and his officials (36:21–22). The reverence with which the scribes treat the message shows that some spiritual sensitivity remains in Judah (36:11–18). It also indicates the credibility of Jeremiah. The officials, however, show contempt. The hiding of Jeremiah and Baruch (36:19) is well advised in view of 26:20–23. To tear their clothes (36:24) would be a sign of self-humiliation. The report seems deliberately to contrast Jehoiakim with his father, Josiah (cf. 2 Kg 22:11–20).

36:27–32. Severe judgment comes on Jehoiakim, who rejects a word intended to spare him. As Jehoiakim tried to blot out God’s word, so his own house will be blotted out (36:30–31). His punishment—to have no descendants on the throne—contrasts with God’s promise to David (2 Sm 7:12–16). Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, who ruled for three months, ends the family rule.

D. Troubling a prophet (37:1–38:28). Chapter 36 reports on efforts to do away with the word of God by burning it. These two chapters tell of attempts to do away with the prophet. Arrested without cause, Jeremiah is held in a dungeon, put in a prison, and then thrown into a miry hole to die. Even so, he is sought out by King Zedekiah, whose city is now under siege, for some favorable word.

The pattern of organization in chapters 37–38 parallels that of chapter 36.

Organization of Jeremiah 36 and 37–38
Introduction	36:1–4	37:1–2
Story in three movements: three readings, three interviews	36:5–26	37:3–38:13
Message to the king	36:27–31	38:14–23
Destiny (scroll, prophet)	36:32	38:24–28

A key word throughout is “burn”; the word’s use in conjunction with Jehoiakim (36:25, 27–29, 32) corresponds to its use in conjunction with Nebuchadnezzar (37:8, 10; 38:17, 18, 23). The first is an internal threat; the second is an external threat. The officials, still somewhat conciliatory in chapter 36, are single-minded toward evil in chapters 37–38. Attempts to destroy the written word (chap. 36) and the speaker of that word (chaps. 37–38) suggest that the rejection of God’s message is total. So judgment follows (chap. 39). Still God, who announced judgment already in Jehoiakim’s reign (chap. 36), waits for more than a decade before bringing it.

37:1–10. A lull in the two-year Babylonian siege of Jerusalem prompts Zedekiah to inquire of Jeremiah (37:3). An example of his failure to pay attention to the words of the Lord (37:2) is Zedekiah’s reenslavement of freed slaves (chap. 34). Intercession is understood to belong to the prophet’s ministry. Prayer could ensure the Babylonians’ permanent departure. Jeremiah’s message is simple: the Babylonians will be back (37:8–10)! [Hophra]

37:11–21. Jeremiah’s message to surrender to Babylon (27:12) causes suspicion about his patriotism. The charge in the arrest is that Jeremiah is defecting to the enemy (37:13). Others have already defected (38:19; 52:15).

From a vaulted cell in a dungeon at Jonathan’s house (37:15–16), Jeremiah is summoned personally by Zedekiah for a message from the Lord (37:17).

Thanks to Zedekiah’s generosity and Jeremiah’s bold request, Jeremiah, though still confined, is given improved conditions (37:18–21). With his limited wartime ration of bread, Jeremiah suffers the effects of siege along with the others. Severe famine contributes to the city’s final collapse (2 Kg 25:3).

38:1–13. Jeremiah’s pacifist position enrages the officials (38:1–3). Their information may have come from Pashhur, a member of an earlier delegation (Jr 21:1–10), or Jehucal (37:3–9), or through personal contact. Religious leaders earlier demanded a death sentence for Jeremiah (26:1–15). The officials are wrong in holding that Jeremiah is not seeking the good of the people (38:4). Zedekiah, like Pilate centuries later (Mt 27:24–26), hands the prophet over to his accusers (38:5). Dissension among leaders bodes ill for any country’s future.

By disposing of Jeremiah in a cistern (38:6), the officials seek his death without physically laying hands on him. It is a foreigner, Ebed-melech from the land of Cush, south of Egypt, who pleads for Jeremiah to be spared (38:7–9). The care with which Jeremiah is taken from the dungeon suggests that he is severely emaciated (38:10–13). Ebed-melech, whose name means “Servant of the King,” is rewarded for his trust in the Lord; his life is spared when calamity strikes (39:15–18).

38:14–28. Zedekiah makes a second and last attempt at an interview with Jeremiah. Some see this as another version of the earlier visit (37:17–21), but divergent details (two different dungeons; two different precipitating occasions) argue for two accounts. The place is in the temple (38:14), where state officials would have little reason to go.

Jeremiah paints the consequences of a refusal to surrender (38:21–23). Palace women will become the property of a conqueror. The city will be burned down. The king, habitually indecisive, is isolated (38:24–26). Jeremiah is under no obligation to disclose full information (38:27).

E. The fall of Jerusalem (39:1–18). From a narrative point of view this chapter is the climax of the book. Repeated threats have now been fulfilled. Chapters 34–38 provide the reasons for the catastrophe; chapters 40–44 tell of the sequel.

39:1–10. The siege begins in January 588, lasts some eighteen months, and ends in July 587 (39:1–2). Zedekiah breaks faith and rebels against the Babylonians. They respond with an invasion (2 Kg 25:1–12 = Jr 52:4–16). Babylonian officials are named (39:3), as are Judah’s officials (38:1).

The king’s fate accords with Jeremiah’s announcements (39:4–7). The city is burned, as Jeremiah so often predicted, and its citizenry is exiled, also as foretold (39:8–9). The poorer class remains (39:10).

39:11–18. Jewish defectors or his own intelligence sources inform Nebuchadnezzar about Jeremiah (39:11). Gedaliah (39:14) will shortly be appointed governor (40:7). For his deed of kindness to Jeremiah, Ebed-melech escapes with his life (39:15–18). The Lord honors those who trust in him.

7. AFTER THE CATASTROPHE (40:1–45:5)

The capture of Jerusalem touches off a sordid set of events. The assassination of Gedaliah leads to strife, insecurity, and fear of Nebuchadnezzar’s reprisal. Consequently some trek off to Egypt, against Jeremiah’s advice. There the familiar godless lifestyle persists; more judgment speeches follow.

The NT story of the Ethiopian eunuch (Ac 8:26–40) has many parallels to the Ebed-melech story (Jr 38:1–13; 39:15–18). In both stories a Cushite/Ethiopian believes God’s message precisely at the time that Israel rejects it.

A. Trouble from within (40:1–41:18). A fresh beginning quickly turns sour with Ishmael’s struggle for power over Gedaliah.

40:1–6. Ramah, five miles north of Jerusalem, is the dispatching point for exiles (40:1). Apparently in the confusion Jeremiah has been arrested again after being sent to Gedaliah’s house (39:14). However, some hold that we have here a more detailed account of the story given in 39:11–14. The witness of the commander of the guard to God’s action (40:2–4) seems unusual (but cf. Gn 41:38; Mt 27:54). Jeremiah chooses to stay with Gedaliah (40:6)—a patriotic gesture—even though he knows the future is with the exiles (Jr 24:4–7).

40:7–12. Gedaliah, of the family of Shaphan the scribe (2 Kg 22:3–14), is appointed governor (40:7). He is cordial to Jeremiah; his policy of submission to the Babylonians echoes that of the prophet (40:9). Mizpah, headquarters for the new governor, is only a short distance from Ramah, the Babylonian command post (40:10a). Officers with their men in the open country, guerrilla-like, have fought against Babylon. Likely they wished to know whether Gedaliah would be a “nationalist” or a Babylonian puppet. Gedaliah, in urging them to help in the harvest, is essentially calling for a return to normalcy (40:10b–12).

40:13–41:10. Terrorist tactics are detailed in 40:13–41:10. Johanan, one of the guerrillas, emerges as spokesperson for the restless remnant (40:13–16). We can only guess at Baalis’s motives (40:14). Did he wish for a leader in Judah sympathetic to a policy of retaliation against the Babylonians? Did he wish to forestall any consolidation of survivors? Did he have personal ambitions? Johanan’s counterplan (40:15) points to the way of violence that prevails after the loss of legitimate government. If the story beginning with 39:1 is continuous, then Gedaliah, assassinated by his own countrymen, governs less than five months (41:1–3).

The eighty men come from three cities that were former worship centers (41:4–5). Shaved beards, torn clothes, and gashes indicate penitence and mourning. They are headed to the temple in Jerusalem, which, even if destroyed, is considered holy. They may have come to mourn its destruction.

41:11–18. Johanan leads a band that intercepts Ishmael at Gibeon, three miles south of Mizpah (41:11–12). The Ammonites, east of the Jordan, earlier were allies with Judah against Babylon (41:15). The murder of the Babylonian-appointed governor, along with the Babylonian soldiers, would be interpreted as insubordination (41:18). Babylon could be expected to bring quick reprisals. The motley group, having decided to head for Egypt, stops near Bethlehem (41:17). From there Johanan contacts Jeremiah for advice.

B. Trouble in Egypt (42:1–43:13). A remnant group goes off to Egypt, contrary to Jeremiah’s advice. There, Jeremiah, who has gone with them, rebukes them for idolatry.

42:1–6. Johanan, active in rescuing his countrymen from Ishmael the assassin, has brought them on their way to Egypt as far as Bethlehem (41:17). Egypt, Judah’s ally against the Babylonians, is not beset by the instability that plagues the Jews. Unsure of their next move, they seek guidance from the Lord through Jeremiah (42:1–3), as did Zedekiah’s delegation earlier (42:1–6; cf. 37:3).

42:7–22. Divine answers to prayer do not come on demand. God’s word to the inquirers is to stay in the land and not go to Egypt. God’s message allays the group’s fear of the Babylonians’ indiscriminate reprisal for Gedaliah’s murder (42:11a; cf. 41:1–3). Part of the message is the divine-assistance formula, “I am with you” (42:11b).

Any decision to go to Egypt must calculate the consequences: death from a variety of causes—sword, famine, and plague (42:16–17). Jeremiah 42:19–22 adds Jeremiah’s personal plea to the remnant not to proceed with their plans. The fatal mistake is not the request for guidance but their double-talk, whereby they promise to do what in their hearts they do not intend to do.

43:1–7. Jeremiah has accused others of lying (9:3–6); now the same charge is thrown into his face (43:1–3). Johanan and company go back on their word (43:4), as did Zedekiah earlier (chap. 34). They decide to go to Egypt.

The “remnant” (43:5) refers to those in Edom, Moab, Ammon, and other nearby countries who returned when they heard Gedaliah was appointed governor. Tahpanhes (43:7) was the first Egyptian city they would reach.

43:8–13. At the Lord’s command, Jeremiah engages in another sign act (cf. chaps. 13; 19; 32). The image of the shepherd’s cloak (43:12) suggests the speed with which Nebuchadnezzar will carry off the Egyptians’ wealth. Nebuchadnezzar will systematically exterminate the Egyptians as so many pests.

C. Failure to learn from history (44:1–45:5). Jeremiah’s warnings against apostasy and his messages of doom continue in Egypt. The reason is that those emigrating from Judah to Egypt reinstate idolatrous worship. They have failed to learn from history.

44:1–14. Another catastrophe is in the offing. Some Jews who left Judah after Nebuchadnezzar’s capture of Jerusalem settled in Egypt (44:1). Their religion is anything but a pure Yahweh religion. Burning incense and worshiping other gods are violations of the first commandment (44:5). God’s fierce anger is unleashed only after his repeated calls for repentance have been spurned (44:6).

The Remnant of Judah Flees to Egypt

By adopting the gods of Egypt, the remnant Jews jeopardize their own welfare and that of future descendants (44:7). The accusation part of the judgment speech focuses first on sins committed (44:8–9) and then on things left undone: self-humiliation, reverence for God, and obedience to the law (44:10). The announcement is that only a few refugees will eventually return to the homeland (44:11–14). Most of the Jews who later resettle in the land are from Babylon, not Egypt.

44:15–19. “We are not going to listen to you!” characterizes the people’s response (44:16); it was also the decision of the Jerusalemites earlier (6:17). The remnant’s reading of history is that things used to be better, presumably during Manasseh’s reign (before Josiah’s), when the mother goddess, “the queen of heaven,” was revered (44:17–18). The action of the families is united and deliberate (44:15, 19). It is widespread and in defiance of the prophet’s warnings.

44:20–30. Jeremiah offers a different interpretation of past history than that given by the remnant. It is their sin that has brought disaster (44:20–23). “Go ahead” is said in irony (44:25). This is Jeremiah’s last recorded speech, which is in keeping with his initial call.

The sign that the threatened doom is indeed God’s work is that Pharaoh Hophra will be handed over to the enemies, as was Zedekiah (44:29–30).

45:1–5. The year of the message to Baruch (605/604 BC; 45:1) was also the year that Jeremiah reviewed his preaching (25:1–11) and prepared the scroll (chap. 36). If Baruch is the author of chapters 34–45, then he closes this section with a modest but frank note about himself.

Baruch’s situation—one of sorrow, groaning, and pain—is reminiscent of Jeremiah’s laments (45:3). The sorrow may be the consistent message of doom, or perhaps Jehoiakim’s rejection of the word (chap. 36), or even Jeremiah’s own endangered life (36:19). Even this personal oracle reaffirms God’s decision to bring judgment (45:4–5).

8. ORACLES ABOUT THE NATIONS (46:1–51:64)

God, who has been named throughout as the “LORD of Armies,” will judge the nations. Egypt and Babylon were the two superpowers of that time. The other nations are for the most part geographically near to Israel. With these oracles Jeremiah fulfills in part his call to be a prophet to the nations.

A. Egypt (46:1–28). 46:1–2. Both Egypt and Babylon were ancient empires, and both vied for the control of Palestine, Ammon, Moab, and other territories that lay between them.

Neco ruled in Egypt from 610 to 595. Carchemish, on the Euphrates, was on the east–west trade routes sixty miles west of Haran. Nebuchadnezzar’s victory at Carchemish in 605 gave him access to the countries by the Mediterranean, including Judah. The long domination of Egypt over Syria-Palestine had ended.

46:3–12. In sarcasm Jeremiah calls on Egypt’s military to prepare for battle (46:3–4). But at once he sees the Egyptians retreating. Jeremiah 46:5 may be a call to retreat when all is in confusion.

Jeremiah 46:7–10 depicts Egyptian ambitions, which crest like the surging Nile River. Jeremiah 46:9 may describe a commander, or even the prophet himself, urging the troops on to make their dreams come true. Mercenary soldiers would have been recruited from Cush, Put, and Lud, regions in Africa. Jeremiah 46:10 refers to the day of the Lord. God will unveil his power and demonstrate his complete control by dealing decisively and in vengeance with his foes. He will sacrifice them.

46:13–26. The setting is the Babylonian attack on the Egyptian home front. One such attack occurred in 601 BC, another in 568–567 BC. Mercenary soldiers, when overpowered, would consider escape to their home country (46:16). Pharaoh’s missed “opportune moment” (46:17) could be the chance to take advantage militarily of Nebuchadnezzar’s return to Babylon after Carchemish.

Nebuchadnezzar, who is a towering figure, is compared to Mount Tabor in north-central Palestine, which rises 2,000 feet above the plain (46:18). The horsefly is Babylon (46:20). The mercenaries, who are Egypt’s hope, will buckle under pressure (46:21). Those more numerous than the locusts (46:23) are the Babylonians.

The prose piece (46:25–26) is about Upper Egypt. The clash is basically with the sun god Amon, patron deity of Thebes. Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, was known for its large temple. The reasons for the disaster are not given, nor is a reason given for Egypt’s promising future.

46:27–28. The salvation oracle of 46:27–28 is a repeat of 30:10–11. It underscores that the defeat of Egypt will mean salvation for Israel. For most of history Israel regarded Egypt as an enemy, though there were times when Egypt was Israel’s ally.

Amon was one of the primary gods of Egypt. Jeremiah proclaims judgment on Egypt and on the god Amon (Jr 46:25).

© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Courtesy of the Musée du Louvre; Autorisation de photographer et de filmer. Louvre, Paris, France.

B. Philistia (47:1–7). This oracle describes the agony of coastal cities—from Sidon in the north to Gaza in the south—ruthlessly attacked by a strong power, the foe from the north, Babylon. The Philistines occupied a strip of territory along the southern Mediterranean coast. [Wadi]

C. Moab (48:1–47). The Moabites, descendants of Lot (Gn 19:37), were unfriendly to Israel at the time of the exodus (Nm 22–24). In 601–600 BC Nebuchadnezzar sent Moabite groups to deal with Jehoiakim’s revolt (2 Kg 24:2).

The language describing Moab’s woes is pithy, picturesque, and liberally sprinkled with place-names. Cities will be destroyed; anguished cries will be heard everywhere. Refugees will seek escape, while Moab’s god Chemosh stands by helplessly. Our knowledge of Moab’s history is scant. Apparently, the Babylonians attacked both Moab and Ammon in 598 BC, and possibly again in 582 BC.

48:1–10. A destroyer will ruthlessly invade the land, and Moab will be broken. The destroyer (48:8)—an unnamed enemy but presumably Nebuchadnezzar—is urged not to slacken in the massacre.

48:11–25. Moab was known for her vineyards. Wine on its dregs, if left too long, loses its flavor (48:11). So Moab, whose dependence for too long has been on Chemosh, has not been “poured out,” but her exile will now improve her flavor. Embarrassment over the inadequacy of her god compares with Israel’s embarrassment over the god Bethel (48:13), which was worshiped in Syria (and also by the Jews in the Elephantine colony in Egypt). Yahweh, the Lord of Armies, stands over Chemosh, Bethel, and all other gods.

48:26–39. It is the cup of the Lord’s wrath that makes Moab drunk (48:26; cf. 25:15–21). The reasons for his destruction emerge: (1) he defied the Lord; (2) he ridiculed Israel; (3) he is extraordinarily proud. Much of the language in 48:28–32 is also found in Is 16:6–12. [Kir-hareseth]

Jazer (48:32), ten miles north of Heshbon, was in Ammonite territory but then was conquered by King Mesha of Moab. Some suggest that it was the center of the Tammuz cult, a feature of which was weeping for the dead. Visually, the shaved head and beard and the gash marks tell the story of woe (48:37).

48:40–47. Moab’s precarious position compares to a creature about to be the victim of an eagle’s swoop (48:40). So overpowering is the enemy that warriors will seem weak (48:41). Those trying to escape will be caught one way or another (48:43–44).

D. Ammon (49:1–6). Ammon lies in central Transjordan, opposite Shechem. The area was taken over by Israel after the exodus (Jos 10:6–12:6; Nm 32:33–37) and assigned to Gad (Jos 13:24–28). The region was lost to Israel when the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser made war against Israel (1 Ch 5:26). The Ammonites repossessed the region. Baalis, king of the Ammonites, was involved with Ishmael in the assassination of Gedaliah (40:14–41:10).

Molech (or Milcom) was the chief god of the Ammonites (49:1). At times Israel worshiped Molech and sacrificed children to him. In his name the Ammonites undertook their conquests.

God will bring the Ammonites terror because of their aggressive conquests and because of their trust in their wealth (49:4). The funeral lament, or dirge (49:3), underscores the extent of the destruction. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Ammon in 582.

E. Edom (49:7–22). Edom, also known as Mount Seir, lies between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. It was inhabited by the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau (Gn 36:1–17). Edom took advantage of Judah’s plight in 586 and occupied southern Judah.

The “cup” (49:12) refers to the cup of wrath, which is also passed to Edom (25:17–28).

Edom, like Moab, is characterized by pride (49:16; cf. 48:29). The root word for pride means “high.” The concept is carried forward by the “mountain summit” and the “nest like the eagles.” God will choose his agent to devastate Edom.

Jeremiah 49:20, with its reference to the Lord’s plans and counsel, returns to the theme of wisdom in 49:7. The language about a swooping eagle (49:22)—likely Nebuchadnezzar—is traditional for depicting the speed and power of an attack. Other images to reinforce the theme of destruction are Sodom and Gomorrah (49:18; cf. Gn 19:24–25) and the lion from Jordan’s thickets (49:19).

F. Damascus (49:23–27). Damascus, north of Palestine on the Abana River, was the capital of the Aramean state. The Babylonian king commissioned the Aramean state to deal with Jehoiakim’s revolt (2 Kg 24:2–4).

Hamath and Arpad, two city-states north of Damascus, were allied with Damascus (49:23). Both lost their independence when they were overpowered by the Assyrians between 740 and 732. The acute distress, a result of the enemy attack, is the main theme of the oracle. Behind the combat stands God (49:27).

G. Kedar and Hazor (49:28–33). The Kedar were a nomadic tribal people in the Syrian-Arabian desert. Hazor is not the well-known town in Galilee but was another Arab tribe living in the eastern desert.

The war poem contains two summonses to attack (49:28, 31), each followed by a list of the plunder (49:29, 32) and the scattering of the fugitives (49:30, 32).

H. Elam (49:34–39). Elam, distant from Palestine, is east of Babylon and northeast of the Persian Gulf. After the overthrow of Babylon, in which Elam assisted, Elam was in turn absorbed by the Persian Empire. Its connections with Judah are unclear. Were there Elamite soldiers in the Babylonian forces? Was there a hope that rulers east of Babylon would break Babylon’s grip and so shorten the captivity of the exiles? If so, this oracle squelches those dreams.

Bas-reliefs from Nineveh show the Elamites as bowmen (49:35). Their skill as archers was proverbial. The announcement to Elam is more general than to Hazor. Dispersion first (49:36), then annihilation is threatened against the Elamites (49:37). Along with Moab and Ammon, Elam will have its fortunes restored (49:39).

I. Babylon (50:1–51:64). God will punish Babylon. Her gods will be discredited, her city demolished. Other nations are repeatedly summoned to arms to completely destroy Babylon. Israel is called to escape, for this is God’s deliverance for her. These three themes—Babylon, the attacking foe, and Israel—like juggler’s balls recur in the oracle.

The oracle is in two halves, with corresponding and contrasting features in each (50:4–44; 51:1–53). “I am against you” occurs in both halves (50:31; 51:25). Each half has a song about a weapon (50:35–38; 51:20–23); and in each there is a pun on Babylon (50:21; 51:41). Both halves announce Babylon’s fall (50:46; 51:31). Her fall will have a far-reaching, even universal, impact (50:12). In the first half the figures of sheep, shepherd, and pasture dominate (50:6, 17, 45); in the second, harvest and drunkenness are frequent metaphors (51:7, 33, 39, 57).

50:1–3. The Babylonians (also called Chaldeans, 50:1) were a tribe whose leader Nabopolassar took the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BC. Under Nebuchadnezzar they moved westward, defeated Egypt at Carchemish in 605 BC, and swooped down on Judah in 597 BC en route to Egypt. Bel (50:2) is an older title for Marduk, a war-hero god and creator. He was Babylon’s patron deity. The phrase “a nation from the north” (50:3) is stereotypical language for an invader. In the earlier part of the book the northerner coming against Israel was Babylon. Now the “nation from the north”—namely, the Medes and other allies of Cyrus (51:27–28)—will invade Babylon.

Marduk (Jr 50:2), often called Bel Marduk, was the chief god of the Babylonians. Marduk was often symbolized by the snake-dragon, such as this one from the Ishtar Gate, which was along the processional way to the temple of Marduk in Babylon.

50:4–20. In the following verses Israel is basically told to move out. In bookend fashion, Israel is the subject of verses 4–7 and 17–20; Israel’s foe is the subject of verses 8–10 and 14–16; and Babylon is the subject of the middle section (50:11–13).

Israel’s physical return will put them in choice places. Spiritually, forgiveness will be in effect; it follows Israel’s return to the covenant relationship (50:4–5). The image of a flock (50:6–7) continues in 50:17, with a capsule review of history: Tiglath-pileser of Assyria made war against Israel in 734 BC; in 722 BC Samaria, the capital of Israel, was taken; Babylon captured Jerusalem, capital of Judah, in 586 BC.

Israel’s hope arose concretely out of a siege laid to Babylon by an alliance of peoples from the north (50:9). They would come with arrows and bows and swords (50:14–16). Reasons for the divine vengeance were that Babylon pillaged Judah and that she sinned against the Lord (specifically, in her pride; 50:11, 14). The city fell in October 539, when Cyrus the Persian, the commander of an alliance consisting of the Medes and other northern peoples, took the city.

50:21–32. The names Merathaim (Hb meratayim, “twofold rebellion”) and Pekod (peqod, “punishment”) are puns on Marratim, a district in southern Babylon, and Puqudu, a tribe east of Babylon (50:21). God will give the command to attack. The result of the battle is that Babylon, once a hammer shattering others, is herself broken (50:23).

Another reason for destroying Babylon, in addition to her destruction of Jerusalem’s temple, is pride (50:29–32). To defy the Lord is to treat him insolently. The titles “Holy One of Israel” (50:29) and “Lord God of Armies” (50:31) underscore the presumption of Babylon’s sin.

50:33–46. The Babylonian Empire will be devastated. Jeremiah 50:33 echoes the theme of Israel’s release as hostage from Babylon’s grip. The Redeemer overpowers the opposition (as formerly in Egypt), and as an attorney, he takes over their case (50:34). His sword will cut into the political, religious, military, and economic segments of society (50:35–37).

The picture of a depopulated city inhabited by desert creatures is traditional (50:39; cf. Is 34:13–14). Sodom and Gomorrah are the classic instances of cities in ruin (50:40). “A people . . . from the north” (50:41) is also standardized language. In addition to the primary foe, a distant alliance and an army of archers are arrayed against Babylon (50:42). Besides, God is the ultimate agent (50:44–45). Any resistance is futile.

51:1–19. The end has come. The destroyer includes the Medes and their allies (51:1–2, 11; cf. 51:27–28). The theme of harvest, together with drunkenness, threads through the chapter (51:7; cf. 51:33, 39, 57).

Figuratively speaking, the movie camera pans jerkily to Israel (her guilt is not minimized, 51:5), and then to Babylon (her cup makes others drunk, 51:7), and then back to Israel (51:10). Babylon’s collapse is Israel’s vindication. Attention then turns to the attackers, who are to take weapons and move in (51:11–12). Finally, it is all over (51:13).

Jeremiah 51:15–19 is essentially a repetition of 10:12–16. The poem gives assurance that God will carry out his purpose. The Lord’s vengeance is retaliation by the highest authority, God’s settling of accounts with Babylon.

51:20–33. Forces are marshaled against Babylon. “You are my war club” (51:20) is God’s address to the coming destroyer, Cyrus the Persian. “Devastating mountain” (51:25) refers to Babylon; geographically it was situated on a plain, though it boasted a temple mountain or ziggurat. Militarily, she has been the greatest power in history, but her eruptive force, like an extinct volcano, will be neutralized.

Battle preparations are urged on the alliance that will attack (51:27–28). Ararat, ancient Urartu, is modern Armenia. “Minni” refers to a territory southeast of Lake Urmia settled by hill folk. Scythians occupied the region between the Black and Caspian Seas; they were the Ashkenaz. The Medes conquered these early in the sixth century; together they become part of the force attacking Babylon. The Lord’s purposes will be implemented (51:29). Babylon’s chief military resource, her soldiers, is incapacitated (51:30). The threshing floor (51:33) is figurative, representing the place where God’s further smashing with his war club will take place.

51:34–53. The next section focuses on Babylon and Israel. Babylon has overstepped her bounds in destroying Jerusalem (51:34–35). Like an attorney, God again takes up Israel’s case (51:36). Babylon will be reduced to rubble (51:37).

Israel is urged to seize the moment of Babylon’s confusion and make her escape (51:45). Rumors of a Babylonian resurgence or of new leadership are not to be believed (51:46). God as scorekeeper will see that Babylon is treated as she has treated others (51:49).

51:54–58. The themes throughout the oracle are gathered up in its conclusion: the destroyer, the destruction, the motivation of God’s retribution, drunkenness, death, and the futility of resistance. The demolishing of the walls of Babylon (51:58) is to be understood as a figure of speech for capitulation, for when the Persians attacked in 539 BC, surrender came quickly and without a battle. In 485 BC, however, Xerxes I laid waste to the walls.

51:59–64. The symbolic action (cf. chaps. 13; 19; 27; 32) is a fitting conclusion to the oracle and to the entire book, even though the action is dated 594/593.

9. THE FALL OF JERUSALEM (52:1–34)

Jeremiah’s words end in 51:64. The account here, which expands on the story in Jr 39:1–10, is mostly taken from 2 Kg 24:18–25:30. It documents the historical fulfillment of much that is prophesied in the book and so encourages readers to recognize the credibility of Jeremiah’s words.

52:1–11. Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteen-month siege, begun in January 588 BC, came in response to Zedekiah’s rebellion. The famine conditions are further described in Lm 2:20–22; 4:1–20.

52:12–27. In August 587 BC, Nebuzaradan put the torch to the city. His second assignment was to gather those destined for exile. Temple furnishings were dismantled; precious metals were salvaged.

52:28–34. Of the three Babylonian raids (597 BC, 587 BC, and 582 BC) the largest number of people were deported in 597 BC. Since 2 Kg 24:14–16 reports a total of eighteen thousand, presumably the list here is of men only (52:28–30). King Jehoiachin was in the first deportation (52:31). The sadness of the closing chapter is brightened by the glimmer of hope in Jehoiachin’s improved condition (52:32–34). In 538 BC the exiles would return. It is because of Jeremiah’s message that we know both the reason for sadness and the reason for hope. [Evil-merodach]