The Book of Jeremiah
Jeremiah is the long, aching record of a prophet who was set apart before he was born and called to a ministry of heartbreak. For forty years he stood before the kings, priests, and people of Judah and told them the truth no one wanted to hear: that their idolatry and stubbornness would end in the fall of Jerusalem and exile to Babylon. He was mocked, beaten, imprisoned, dropped into a muddy cistern, and forced into Egypt against his will, and through it all he wept for the people who would not listen. Yet woven through the grief is a thread of unbreakable hope. The same God who would uproot and tear down promised to build and to plant, to give His people a future and a hope, and to write a new covenant on their hearts so that their sins would be remembered no more. In Jeremiah we see both the seriousness of sin and the steadfast love of a God who will not finally let His people go.
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Whole-Book Overview
Jeremiah is the story of a faithful, weeping prophet who warned Judah of judgment and exile yet promised a future, a hope, and a new covenant fulfilled in Christ.
Open overview → Chapter 1Called From the Womb
Before Jeremiah was born God had set him apart as a prophet to the nations, steadying his fears with an almond branch and a boiling pot.
Open study → Chapter 2Two Evils, Broken Cisterns
God grieves that his people have forsaken him, the spring of living waters, and dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
Open study → Chapter 3Return, Backsliding Children
Though Israel has played the prostitute with many lovers, God astonishingly calls his faithless people to return, promising healing and shepherds after his own heart.
Open study → Chapter 4Disaster From the North
God calls Judah to circumcise her heart, then warns of an approaching destroyer from the north as the prophet's soul writhes at the sound of war.
Open study → Chapter 5Search for One Just Soul
God sends Jeremiah through Jerusalem's streets to find a single honest person, but rich and poor alike have rejected him and the prophets prophesy falsely.
Open study → Chapter 6Ask for the Ancient Paths
As the besieging army gathers, God pleads with his people to stand at the crossroads, ask for the old paths, and walk in the good way to find rest.
Open study → Chapter 7Do Not Trust Deceptive Words
Standing in the temple gate, Jeremiah warns that chanting the Lord's temple cannot save a people who steal, murder, and chase other gods.
Open study → Chapter 8No Balm in Gilead
The people cling to deceit and refuse to return, and the prophet's heart breaks as he asks why the wound of his people is not healed.
Open study → Chapter 9Boast in Knowing the Lord
Jeremiah weeps over a deceitful people, and God redirects all boasting away from wisdom, might, and riches to the knowledge of himself.
Open study → Chapter 10Idols and the Living God
Against the lifeless idols that must be carried and cannot speak, Jeremiah exalts Yahweh, the true and living God who made the heavens and the earth.
Open study → Chapter 11The Broken Covenant
God reminds Judah of the covenant they have broken, and Jeremiah learns of a plot on his life from the very men of his hometown.
Open study → Chapter 12Why Do the Wicked Prosper?
Jeremiah dares to argue his case with God over the success of the treacherous, and God answers with a harder question and a promise of compassion.
Open study → Chapter 13The Ruined Linen Belt
Through a belt buried by the Euphrates and a warning against pride, God shows how a people once meant to cling to him have become good for nothing.
Open study → Chapter 14The Drought and the Plea
A parched land drives Jeremiah to plead for mercy, but God answers that judgment must come and even prayer cannot turn it back.
Open study → Chapter 15Words That Became a Joy
Even as judgment is sealed and the prophet feels cursed and alone, he finds that God's words are the sustaining joy of his heart.
Open study → Chapter 16A Life That Preaches
Forbidden to marry, mourn, or feast, Jeremiah's very life becomes a living sign of the coming desolation and the hope beyond it.
Open study → Chapter 17The Engraved Heart
Sin is etched deep on the human heart, yet the one who trusts in the Lord is like a tree by the water, ever green and fruitful.
Open study → Chapter 18Clay in the Potter's Hands
At the potter's house God teaches that he is free to reshape nations, and a marred vessel can yet be made into something new.
Open study → Chapter 19The Broken Jar
At the valley of slaughter Jeremiah shatters a clay jar, dramatizing a judgment on Jerusalem that can never be mended.
Open study → Chapter 20Fire Shut Up in My Bones
Beaten and mocked for God's word, Jeremiah pours out anguish and accusation, yet cannot stop the burning fire of the message within him.
Open study → Chapter 21The Way of Life and Death
When King Zedekiah seeks a miracle, God instead sets before the city the way of life and the way of death, and fights against his own people.
Open study → Chapter 22Justice and the Throne
God measures Judah's kings not by their cedar palaces but by whether they did justice for the poor and the needy.
Open study → Chapter 23The Righteous Branch
Against the false shepherds and lying prophets, God promises to raise up a righteous King from David called "Yahweh our righteousness."
Open study → Chapter 24Two Baskets of Figs
In a vision of good and bad figs, God reveals that the exiles he sent away are the ones he will restore with a new heart.
Open study → Chapter 25Seventy Years and the Cup
After twenty-three years of unheeded warning, God foretells seventy years of exile and a cup of wrath the nations must drink.
Open study → Chapter 26On Trial for the Word
Jeremiah preaches in the temple court and is seized and threatened with death, yet entrusts himself to God and is spared.
Open study → Chapter 27The Yoke of Submission
Wearing a wooden yoke, Jeremiah tells the nations and Judah that surrender to Babylon, not rebellion, is the path of life under God's sovereign hand.
Open study → Chapter 28When a Prophet Lies
Hananiah breaks the wooden yoke and promises a swift return, but God replaces it with iron and exposes a comforting lie that costs the prophet his life.
Open study → Chapter 29A Letter to the Exiles
Jeremiah writes to those carried to Babylon, telling them to settle, seek the city's peace, and trust God's plans for a future and a hope.
Open study → Chapter 30Out of Jacob's Trouble
God commands Jeremiah to write a book of comfort, promising to break the yoke, heal the incurable wound, and restore his afflicted people.
Open study → Chapter 31Written on the Heart
God promises an everlasting love and a new covenant, when his law will be written on hearts and every sin will be remembered no more.
Open study → Chapter 32Buying a Field of Hope
Imprisoned as the city falls, Jeremiah buys a field in his hometown as a sign that houses and fields will be bought in the land again.
Open study → Chapter 33Call to Me and I Will Answer
God invites Jeremiah to call on him, promising healing, cleansing, and a righteous Branch from David whose throne is as sure as day and night.
Open study → Chapter 34A Broken Promise of Freedom
Zedekiah is warned of capture as the people free their slaves and then take them back, profaning God's name and inviting judgment.
Open study → Chapter 35The Faithful Rechabites
A family that has obeyed its ancestor's command for generations becomes a living rebuke to a people who will not obey their God.
Open study → Chapter 36The Burned Scroll Rewritten
Jehoiakim slices and burns God's word column by column, but the indestructible word is simply written again, with more added.
Open study → Chapter 37Imprisoned for the Truth
When a brief reprieve raises false hopes, Jeremiah keeps telling the truth and is beaten and imprisoned, yet still speaks God's word to the king.
Open study → Chapter 38Rescued From the Cistern
Lowered into the mire to die, Jeremiah is saved by the courage of a foreigner, while a fearful king refuses to obey the word he secretly seeks.
Open study → Chapter 39The Fall of Jerusalem
After the long siege the city breaks, the king is captured and blinded, and God keeps his promise to deliver the foreigner who trusted him.
Open study → Chapter 40A Remnant Left in the Land
Released from his chains, Jeremiah stays with Gedaliah, the governor who gathers the scattered remnant and pleads with them to serve Babylon and live in peace.
Open study → Chapter 41Bloodshed at Mizpah
Ishmael murders Gedaliah and many others in cold treachery, until Johanan rescues the captives and the frightened remnant turns its eyes toward Egypt.
Open study → Chapter 42Pray for Us, Then We Will Obey
The frightened remnant begs Jeremiah to seek God's will and vows to obey, but God's clear answer—stay and do not fear—meets hearts already set on Egypt.
Open study → Chapter 43Down to Egypt in Defiance
Accusing Jeremiah of lying, the leaders drag the remnant—and the prophet—into Egypt, where God promises that Babylon's king will follow and strike even there.
Open study → Chapter 44Stubborn Hearts and the Queen of Heaven
In Egypt the remnant defiantly vows to keep worshiping the queen of the sky, and God declares that judgment will pursue them until they know whose word stands.
Open study → Chapter 45A Word for Weary Baruch
When Jeremiah's faithful scribe is crushed by sorrow and weariness, God gently corrects his longing for great things and promises to preserve his life.
Open study → Chapter 46Egypt at the River
The oracles against the nations open with Egypt's proud army shattered at the Euphrates, while God promises not to make a full end of his servant Jacob.
Open study → Chapter 47The Sword Against Philistia
An overflowing flood from the north sweeps over the Philistine cities, and even the cry to sheathe the sword cannot stop the judgment God has appointed.
Open study → Chapter 48The Pride of Moab Brought Low
Moab, complacent and proud, trusts in Chemosh and her own treasures, but God shatters her like a useless vessel—yet promises to restore her in the latter days.
Open study → Chapter 49Oracles Against the Nations
Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, and Elam each face God's judgment, yet for some the LORD still promises to bring back their captivity in days to come.
Open study → Chapter 50Babylon's Coming Fall
The mighty hammer of the nations is itself to be shattered, while God's scattered people are gathered home and their strong Redeemer pleads their cause.
Open study → Chapter 51Babylon Sinks Like a Stone
God completes his sentence on proud Babylon, calls his people to flee, exalts himself as Maker of all things, and seals the word with Seraiah's stone in the Euphrates.
Open study → Chapter 52Jerusalem Falls, a King Lifted Up
The book closes by retelling Jerusalem's fall, the temple's plunder, and the exile—then ends with a glimmer of hope as Jehoiachin is released and honored.
Open study →Study together
Gather a group, work through a chapter at a time, and journey through Jeremiah together. Invite a friend to join you.