Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the

major prophet The major prophets is a grouping of books in the Christian Old Testament that does not occur in the Hebrew Bible. All of these books are traditionally regarded as authored by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The term major proph ...

s of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' book that bears his name, the

Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, ''Sefer (Hebrew), Sēfer Malik, Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Is ...

, and the

Book of Lamentations The Book of Lamentations (, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible, it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ("Five Scroll ...

, with the assistance and under the editorship of

Baruch ben Neriah Baruch ben Neriah ( ''Bārūḵ ben Nērīyyā''; c. 6th century BC) was the scribe, disciple, secretary, and devoted friend of the Hebrew Bible, Biblical prophet Jeremiah. He is traditionally credited with authoring the Book of Baruch. Biograp ...

, his

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

and disciple. According to the narrative of the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet emerged as a significant figure in the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC. Born into a priestly lineage, Jeremiah reluctantly accepted his call to prophethood, embarking on a tumultuous ministry more than five decades long. His life was marked by opposition, imprisonment, and personal struggles, according to

Jeremiah 32 Jeremiah 32 is the thirty-second chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is numbered as Jeremiah 39 in the Septuagint. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah ...

and 37. Central to Jeremiah's message were

prophecies In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divi ...

of impending

divine judgment Divine judgment means the judgment of God or other supreme beings and deities within a religion or a spiritual belief. Ancient beliefs In ancient Sumerian religion, the sun-god Utu and his twin sister Inanna were believed to be the enfo ...

, forewarning of the nation's idolatry, social injustices, and moral decay. According to the Bible, he prophesied the siege of Jerusalem and

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...

as consequences for disobedience. Jeremiah's teachings encompassed

lament A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...

ations, oracles, and symbolic acts, emphasising the urgency of

repentance Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past or present wrongdoings, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better. In modern times, it is generally seen ...

and the restoration of a

covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...

relationship with

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. Jeremiah is an essential figure in both

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. His words are read in

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

s as part of the

haftara The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', ) "parting," "taking leave" (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros''), is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Pr ...

and he is quoted in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

also regards Jeremiah as a prophet and his narrative is recounted in

Islamic tradition The term Islamic tradition may refer to: * Islamic Traditionalist theology, Islamic scholarly movement, originating in the late 8th century CE *''Ahl al-Hadith'', "The adherents of the tradition" * Traditional Islamic schools and branches * Islami ...

Biblical narratives

Lineage and early life

Jeremiah was known as a prophet from the thirteenth year of

Josiah Josiah () or Yoshiyahu was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE). According to the Hebrew Bible, he instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Until the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah’s ...

king of Judah The Kings of Judah were the monarchs who ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Judah, which was formed in about 930 BC, according to the Hebrew Bible, when the United Kingdom of Israel split, with the people of the northern Kingdom of Israel rejecti ...

(626 BC), until after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (), was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries Common Era, BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it ...

in 587 BC. This period spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz,

Jehoiakim Jehoiakim, also sometimes spelled Jehoikim was the eighteenth and antepenultimate King of Judah from 609 to 598 BC. He was the second son of King Josiah () and Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. His birth name was Eliakim. Background Af ...

, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. The prophetess Huldah was a relative and contemporary of Jeremiah, while the prophet Zephaniah was his mentor. Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a priest from the land of Benjamin in the village of Anathoth. The difficulties he encountered, as described in the books of Jeremiah and Book of Lamentations, Lamentations, have prompted scholars to refer to him as "the weeping prophet". Jeremiah was called to prophecy BC by God to proclaim Jerusalem's coming destruction by invaders from the north. This was because Israel had forsaken God by worshiping the Idolatry, idols of Baal and burning their children as offerings to Baal. The nation had deviated so far from God's laws that they had broken the covenant, causing God to withdraw his blessings. Jeremiah was guided by God to proclaim that the nation of Judah would suffer famine, foreign conquest, plunder, and captivity in a land of strangers. According to , Yahweh called Jeremiah to prophesy in about 626 BC, about five years before Josiah's famous reforms. However, they were insufficient to save Judah and Jerusalem from destruction, because of the sins of Manasseh of Judah, Manasseh, Josiah's grandfather, and Judah's return to the idolatry of foreign gods after Josiah's death. Jeremiah was said to have been appointed to reveal the sins of the people and the punishment to come. Jeremiah resisted the call by complaining that he was only a child and did not know how to speak, but the Lord placed the word in Jeremiah's mouth, commanding "Get yourself ready!" The qualities of a prophet listed in Jeremiah 1 include not being afraid, standing up to speak, speaking as told, and going where sent. Since Jeremiah is described as emerging well trained and fully literate from his earliest preaching, his relationship with the Shaphan family has been used to suggest that he may have trained at the scribal school in Jerusalem over which Shaphan presided. In his early years of being a prophet, Jeremiah was primarily a preaching prophet, preaching throughout Israel. He condemned idolatry, the greed of priests, and false prophets. Many years later, God instructed Jeremiah to write down these early oracles and his other messages. Charles Cutler Torrey argues that the prophet accuses priests and scribes of altering the Torah, actual Scriptures with "scribal additions" to accommodate the worship of other deities.

Persecution

Jeremiah's prophecies prompted plots against him. Unhappy with Jeremiah's message, possibly from concern that it would shut down the Anathoth sanctuary, his priestly kin and the men of Anathoth plotted to kill him. However, the Lord revealed the conspiracy to Jeremiah, protected his life, and declared disaster for the people of Anathoth. When Jeremiah complains to the Lord about this persecution, he is told that the attacks on him will become worse. A priest, Pashur the son of Immer, a temple official in Jerusalem, had Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin for a day. After this, Jeremiah laments the travails and mockery that speaking God's word have caused him. He recounts how, if he tries to shut God's word inside, it burns in his heart and he is unable to hold it in.

Conflict with false prophets

While Jeremiah was prophesying the coming destruction, he denounced a number of other prophets who were prophesying peace. According to the book of Jeremiah, during the reign of King Zedekiah, the Lord instructed Jeremiah to make a yoke with the message that the nation would be subject to the king of Babylon. The false prophet Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it, prophesying that within two years the Lord would break the yoke of the king of Babylon, but Jeremiah prophesied in return: "You have broken the yoke of wood, but you have made instead a yoke of iron."

Relationship with the Northern Kingdom (Samaria)

Jeremiah was sympathetic to, as well as descended from, the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), northern Kingdom of Israel. Many of his first reported oracles are about, and addressed to, the Israelites at Samaria. He resembles the northern prophet Hosea in his use of language and examples of God's relationship to Israel. Hosea seems to have been the first prophet to describe the desired relationship as an example of ancient Israelite marriage, where a man might be polygamous, while a woman was only permitted one husband. Jeremiah often repeats Hosea's marital imagery.

Babylon

The biblical narrative portrays Jeremiah as being subject to additional persecutions. After Jeremiah prophesied that Jerusalem would be handed over to the Babylonian army, the king's officials, including Pashur the priest, tried to convince King Zedekiah that Jeremiah should be put to death for disheartening the soldiers and the people. Zedekiah allowed them, and they cast Jeremiah into a cistern, where he sank down into the mud. The intent seemed to be to kill Jeremiah by starvation, while allowing the officials to claim to be innocent of his blood. Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian, rescued Jeremiah by pulling him out of the cistern, but Jeremiah remained imprisoned until Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian army in 587 BC. The Babylonians released Jeremiah, and showed him great kindness, allowing him to choose the place of his residence, according to a Babylonian edict. Jeremiah accordingly went to Mizpah in Benjamin with Gedaliah, who had been made governor of Judea.

Egypt

Johanan succeeded Gedaliah, who had been assassinated by an Israelite prince in the pay of Ammon "for working with the Babylonians." Refusing to listen to Jeremiah's counsel, Johanan fled to Egypt, taking with him Jeremiah and Baruch ben Neriah, Baruch, Jeremiah's faithful

and servant, and the king's daughters. There, the prophet probably spent the remainder of his life, still seeking to turn the people back to God. There is no authentic record of his death.

Historicity

The consensus is that there was a historical prophet named Jeremiah and that portions of the book probably were written by Jeremiah and/or his scribe Baruch. Views range from the belief that the narratives and poetic sections in Jeremiah are contemporary with his life (W. L. Holladay), to the view that the work of the original prophet is beyond identification or recovery (R. P. Carroll). According to Rainer Albertz, first there were early collections of oracles, including material in ch. 2–6, 8–10, 13, 21–23, etc. Then there was an early Deuteronomistic redaction which Albertz dates to around 550 BC, with the original ending to the book at 25:13. There was a second redaction around 545–540 BC which added much more material, up to about ch. 45. Then there was a third redaction around 525–520 BC, expanding the book up to the ending at 51:64. Then there were further post-exilic redactions adding ch. 52 and editing content throughout the book. Although Jeremiah was often thought of traditionally as the author of the

, this is probably a collection of individual and communal laments by others composed at various times throughout the

Archaeology

Nebo-Sarsekim tablet

In July 2007, Assyrologist Michael Jursa translated a cuneiform tablet dated to 595 BC, as describing a Nabusharrussu-ukin as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Jursa hypothesized that this reference might be to the same individual as the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet, Nebo-Sarsekim mentioned in .

Seals

A 7th-century BC Jehucal, seal of Jehucal, son of Shelemiah and another of Gedaliah, son of Pashhur (mentioned together in Jeremiah 38:1; Jehucal also mentioned in Jeremiah 37:3) were found during excavation by Eilat Mazar in the City of David (Silwan), city of David, Jerusalem, in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

Tel Arad ostraca

Pottery shards at Tel Arad were unearthed in the 1970s that mention Pashhur, and this reference may be to the same individual mentioned in Jeremiah 20:1.

Religious views

He was first added to Bede, Bede's Martyrology.

Judaism

In Jewish rabbinic literature, especially the aggadah, Jeremiah and Moses are always mentioned together, An ancient midrash, in connection with presented their life and works in parallel, in which "a prophet like Moses" is promised, states Jeremiah's time as prophet was similar with Moses, which is 40 years. Moses also prophesied that his own tribe, Tribe of Levi, will rebel against Judah, while Jeremiah's tribe would in turn rebel against Jeremiah himself. In the year of the prophesied event, Moses also said that he himself will be exiled into watery areas, while Jeremiah will be jailed in a pit. Then Moses will be saved by a slave of Pharaoh's daughter, while subsequently Jeremiah will be rescued by a slave named Ebed-melech; After such, the Deuteronomy closed the chapter with Moses reprimanded the people in discourses; so did Jeremiah. The prophet Ezekiel was a son of Jeremiah according to rabbinic literature. I
2 Maccabees 2:4ff
Jeremiah is credited with hiding the Ark, incense altar, and tabernacle on the mountain of Moses.

Liturgical hymns

Troparion Prophet Jeremias — Tone 2

Проро́ка Твоего́ Иереми́и па́мять, Го́споди, пра́зднующе,/ тем Тя мо́лим:// спаси́ ду́ши на́ша.

Proroka Tvoego Ieremii pamyat’, Gospodi, prazdnuyushche,/ tem Tya molim:// spasi dushi nasha.

Kontakion Prophet Jeremias — Tone 3

Очи́стив ду́хом, вели́кий проро́че и му́чениче,/ твое́ светоза́рное се́рдце,/ сла́вне Иереми́е,/ проро́чествия дар свы́ше прия́л еси́/ и возопи́л еси́ велегла́сно во страна́х:/ се Бог наш, и не приложи́тся ин к Нему́,// И́же, вопло́щся, на земли́ яви́лся есть.

Ochistiv dukhom, veliky proroche i mucheniche,/ tvoe svetozarnoe serdtse,/ slavne Ieremie,/ prorochestviya dar svyshe priyal yesi/ i vozopil yesi veleglasno vo stranakh:/ se Bog nash, i ne prilozhitsa in k Nemu,// Izhe, voploshchsya, na zemli yavilsya yest’.

Christianity

Christian worship Church service, services regularly include readings from the Book of Jeremiah. The author of the Gospel of Matthew is especially mindful of how the events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfill Jeremianic prophecies. There are about forty direct quotations of the book in the New Testament, most appearing in Revelation 18 in connection with the destruction of Babylon. The Epistle to the Hebrews also picks up the fulfilment of the prophetic expectation of the new covenant. In Christianity, there are several feast days which commemorate Jeremiah: * 16 January – commemoration of overthrowing the Idols by prophet Jeremiah (Oriental Orthodox Churches, OO) * 7 April – Michael (archangel), Saint Michael delivers Jeremiah from prison (Oriental Orthodox Churches, OO) * 30 April – Martyrdom of Jeremiah the Prophet (Oriental Orthodox Churches, OO) * 1 May – commemoration in Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church * 26 June – commemoration in Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, LCMS (Liturgical colours, R)

Islam

Jeremiah (; 650 Common Era, BCE – 570 Common Era, BCE) is regarded as a Prophets and messengers in Islam, prophet in Islam. In Arabic, Jeremiah's name is usually vocalised ''Irmiyā'', ''Armiyā'' or ''Ūrmiyā''. However, since the name of Jeremiah is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran and Hadith, belief in Jeremiah was considered not part of the Five Pillars of Islam by the academic community of Islam, regarding Jeremiah instead historical supplementary material, since his name was only found in the tafsir and other non-canonical Islamic literature. Nevertheless, since his status as prophet was generally undisputed in Islam, Muslims apply "PBUH" or "Peace Belong Upon Him" as an honorific for Jeremiah. The narratives of Jeremiah in Islamic belief closely correspond with the account given in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Islamic literature narrated a detailed account of the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), which parallels the account given in the Book of Jeremiah.

Baháʼí Faith

In the Baháʼí Faith, Jeremiah is regarded as one of the prophets along with David, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, along with others.

Cultural influence

Jeremiah inspired the French language, French noun ''jérémiade'', and subsequently the English language, English ''jeremiad'', meaning "a lamentation; mournful complaint," or further, "a cautionary or angry harangue." Jeremiah has periodically been a popular first name in the United States, beginning with the early Puritan settlers, who often took the names of biblical prophets and apostles. Jeremiah was substituted for the Irish ''Diarmuid/Diarmaid'' (also anglicised as Dermot), with which it has no etymological connection, when Gaelic names were frowned upon in official records. The name Jeremy (name), Jeremy also derives from Jeremiah. Sohrab Sepehri, an Iranian poet and painter, has mentioned Jeremiah in his work as "The weeping prophet".

Notes and references

Explanatory footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * * * Hirsch, Emil G., et al. (1906).
Jeremiah
. ''The Jewish Encyclopedia''. {{Authority control Jeremiah, 570s BC deaths 6th-century BC writers 6th-century BCE Jews 7th-century BC births 7th-century BC writers 7th-century BCE Jews English masculine given names Masculine given names Jewish priests Martyrs Tribe of Levi