Where it fits

Jeremiah is the 24th book of the Bible, with 52 chapters, and one of its longest. Jeremiah, a priest from Anathoth near Jerusalem, was called as a young man around 627 BC and prophesied through the last decades of Judah, until Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC. The book isn't in chronological order. Read straight through, it takes about three and a half hours.

The prophet and his message

God calls Jeremiah while he is still young. He objects that he is only a child (1:6), but God promises to be with him and puts words in his mouth. His message is hard: Judah has broken the covenant through idolatry and injustice, and Babylon is coming. He preaches at the temple gate, warning people not to trust in the temple as a charm, with its slogan, “This is the temple of the LORD” (7:1–15). For this he is beaten, put in stocks (20:1–2), and thrown into a muddy cistern (38:6). When King Jehoiakim cuts up and burns Jeremiah's scroll, Jeremiah simply dictates it again to his scribe Baruch (36).

Jeremiah is also the most personal of the prophets. In his “confessions” he complains to God and says that God's word is like fire shut up in his bones (20:7–18). Through symbolic acts, a potter's house (18), a broken jar (19), and a wooden yoke (27–28), he shows what is coming. When the exile starts, he writes to those taken to Babylon, telling them to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the good of the city (29:4–7), because the exile will last 70 years. In the middle of the book comes the “book of comfort” (30–33), with God's promise of a new covenant, written on hearts (31:31–34). Jerusalem falls in 586 BC (39; 52), and Jeremiah, who stays behind, is later taken to Egypt by a group of refugees (43).

Three ideas to hold on to

1. God tells the truth, even when it hurts. Jeremiah refused to say “Peace, peace” when there was no peace (6:14; 8:11). Speaking God's word was costly but necessary.
2. God's judgment comes with grief. Jeremiah weeps for his people (9:1), and God himself is pictured as grieving.
3. God promises a new covenant. The old covenant had been broken, but God will write his law on hearts and forgive sins, so that all will know him (31:31–34).

Passages people ask about

• Jeremiah 1:4–10. The call of a reluctant young prophet.
• Jeremiah 7:1–15. The temple sermon, a warning against treating religious buildings and rituals as a guarantee.
• Jeremiah 20:7–18. Jeremiah's honest complaint to God, ending in despair, a model of prayer that holds nothing back.
• Jeremiah 29:1–14. The letter to the exiles, including verse 11. See the misunderstanding below.
• Jeremiah 31:31–34. The new covenant.
• Jeremiah 36. The scroll the king burned and could not destroy.

How it points to Jesus

At the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20), drawing directly on Jeremiah 31. Hebrews quotes the promise twice (8:8–12; 10:16–17) to show that Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. Jesus also echoes Jeremiah when he drives the traders out of the temple, quoting “a den of robbers” (Jeremiah 7:11; Mark 11:17), and when he weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).

A common misunderstanding

Jeremiah 29:11, the promise of a future and a hope, is one of the most popular verses on cards and graduation gifts, as a promise of personal success. It was written to people in exile, who were told they would stay in Babylon for 70 years (29:10) before God brought them home. The promise is real, and it shows God's heart, but it isn't a guarantee of a comfortable life. It is a promise of hope in a long, hard season, and that is the kind of promise most of us need.