Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah is a deeply personal and emotionally charged prophetic work that chronicles warning, judgment, grief, and enduring hope. Written by Jeremiah, the book spans decades leading up to and including the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah’s ministry unfolds during one of the most tragic periods in Israel’s history.
Jeremiah is called as a prophet while still young and immediately confronted with resistance. His message is unwelcome: Judah has broken covenant with God through idolatry, injustice, and empty religious ritual. Despite outward worship, the people’s hearts are far from the LORD. Jeremiah repeatedly warns that judgment is coming—not because God is absent, but because He is faithful to His covenant standards.
A central theme of Jeremiah is the cost of ignored repentance. The prophet pleads with the people to return to God, warning that reliance on the temple, political alliances, or false assurances will not save them. Judah’s leaders and false prophets promise peace, but Jeremiah exposes those promises as lies. Truth brings isolation, suffering, and persecution for the prophet himself.
The book is notable for its raw honesty. Jeremiah records his own anguish, fear, and frustration in passages often called the “confessions of Jeremiah.” He wrestles openly with God, expressing sorrow over judgment while remaining obedient to his calling. His tears earn him the title “the weeping prophet,” reflecting both compassion and faithfulness.
Judgment, however, is not the final word. Jeremiah also delivers profound promises of restoration. God declares that exile will not last forever and introduces the promise of a new covenant—one written on the heart rather than stone. This covenant speaks of forgiveness, transformed hearts, and restored relationship with God.
Jeremiah concludes with the fall of Jerusalem, validating the prophet’s warnings, yet pointing beyond devastation toward hope. Even in ruin, God’s purposes continue. Nations rise and fall, but God remains sovereign, faithful, and committed to redemption.
The Book of Jeremiah stands as a sobering reminder that God’s patience has limits, but His mercy endures. It calls readers to listen when God speaks, to take repentance seriously, and to trust that even in judgment, God is working toward restoration.
Jeremiah 36:7
It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
Jeremiah 36:8
And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’S house.
Jeremiah 36:9
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 37:1
And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
Jeremiah 37:10
For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
Jeremiah 37:11
And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, Reflection This verse captures a brief pause in pressure—a moment when danger seems to lift and hope appears to return. The besieging force withdraws, not because judgment has ended, but because another power […]
Jeremiah 37:12
Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.
Jeremiah 37:13
And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.
Jeremiah 37:14
Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
Jeremiah 37:15
Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.
Jeremiah 37:16
When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
Jeremiah 37:17
Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 37:18
Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?
Jeremiah 37:19
Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
Jeremiah 37:2
But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 37:20
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
Jeremiah 37:21
Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
Jeremiah 37:3
And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.
Jeremiah 37:4
Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison.
Jeremiah 37:5
Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 37:6
Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Jeremiah 37:7
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
Jeremiah 37:8
And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
Jeremiah 37:9
Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
Jeremiah 38:1
Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,
Jeremiah 38:10
Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
Jeremiah 38:11
So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 38:12
And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
Jeremiah 38:13
So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.