Line upon Line

The Old Testament

Jeremiah

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.” The Lord to Jeremiah, Jer. 1:5

Jeremiah was born into a priestly family in Anathoth and prophesied from the thirteenth year of King Josiah until after Jerusalem fell to Babylon, more than forty years (Jer. 1:1–3). He was in Jerusalem when Lehi was. Nephi knew that Jeremiah had been thrown into prison (1 Ne. 7:14), and the plates of brass held some of his prophecies (1 Ne. 5:13).

His book is the longest of the prophets, and it does not run in order: sermons, signs, prayers, and stories from different reigns sit side by side. This companion goes through all fifty-two chapters and tries to anticipate the questions a careful reader asks: When is this? Who is he talking to? What does that image mean? Where is Christ in this?

Mark chapters as studied to track your progress.

The chapters

Jeremiah is not arranged in order of time. Knowing which king is on the throne, and which part of the book you’re in, is half the battle.

Jeremiah 1–6

The Call and the First Warnings

The Lord calls Jeremiah, whom He knew before he was born, and sends him to a people who have left “the fountain of living waters.” An enemy is coming from the north.

  1. 1 Before I Formed Thee A young priest from Anathoth is told that he was known and appointed before birth, and is sent to tear down and to build among kings, priests, and people who will fight him.
  2. 2 Broken Cisterns The Lord remembers Israel's youthful devotion in the wilderness, asks what fault her fathers found in Him, and charges His people with trading a fountain of living water for cisterns that leak.
  3. 3 Return, Backsliding Children The Lord opens with the law that forbids a divorced wife's return, then calls the divorced northern tribes home anyway, promising to gather them one by one to Zion.
  4. 4 The Alarm and the Heart The Lord tells Judah what turning back would take, then the alarm sounds, the land goes dark, and the prophet cannot hold his peace.
  5. 5 Run to and Fro through Jerusalem The Lord offers to pardon the whole city if one honest person can be found in it, and then shows why He cannot. From the poor to the powerful, from the market to the pulpit, nobody fears Him, and the people love it that way.
  6. 6 The Assayer and the Rejected Silver Jerusalem is told to flee, to turn back to the old paths, and to hear the watchmen; she refuses all three, and the prophet's long testing of the people ends with the verdict that nothing in them can be refined.
Jeremiah 7–20

The Temple Sermon and the Prophet’s Burden

Jeremiah stands in the temple gate and says the temple will not save a people who will not repent. He acts out his message with a linen girdle, a potter’s vessel, and a broken bottle, and prays some of the most honest prayers in scripture.

  1. 7 The Temple Sermon At the temple gate Jeremiah tells a city that trusts in the building to mend its ways, and warns that the house will go the way of Shiloh.
  2. 8 The Harvest Is Past The threat of chapter 7 reaches the graves, then the prophet asks why a people who could once turn back will not, and weeps that no balm has been laid on the wound.
  3. 9 Oh That My Head Were Waters The prophet wishes he could weep enough for his people, or else escape them; the Lord answers with judgment, calls for professional mourners, and says the only thing worth boasting in is knowing Him.
  4. 10 The Living God and the Wooden Gods Jeremiah mocks the idols of the nations as lifeless things made by craftsmen, sets the Maker of heaven and earth against them, and then turns to the coming exile and a prayer to be corrected, not destroyed.
  5. 11 The Words of This Covenant The Lord sends Jeremiah to remind Judah of the covenant made at the Exodus, tells him not to pray for a people who have broken it, and then shows him that the men of his own hometown are plotting to kill him.
  6. 12 Why Do the Wicked Prosper? Jeremiah asks God why the treacherous thrive, is told that harder days are coming, and then hears the Lord grieve over His own ruined vineyard and offer the nations a place in it.
  7. 13 The Linen Girdle A priest's son wears a linen belt, buries it by the Euphrates, and digs up a ruin. The Lord says that is what Judah's pride will make of a people He meant to wear as an ornament.
  8. 14 The Prophet Told Not to Pray A drought empties the cisterns of Judah, the people pray through Jeremiah, and the Lord answers that the real danger is a prophets' lie that no judgment is coming.
  9. 15 Though Moses and Samuel Stood Before Me The Lord tells Jeremiah that not even Moses and Samuel could turn Him back from Judah now, and the prophet, who has been told to stop praying, breaks into complaint and is called back to his commission.
  10. 16 Thou Shalt Not The prophet is forbidden to marry, to mourn, or to feast, so that his own life says what is coming; and then, in the middle of the ruin, the Lord promises a gathering that will make Israel forget the Exodus.
  11. 17 Two Trees and a Gate Judah's sin is cut into its heart and its altars, and the Lord sets two men side by side, one trusting flesh and one trusting Him, before a prayer from the prophet and a test at the city gates.
  12. 18 The Potter and the Clay The Lord sends Jeremiah to watch a potter rework spoiled clay, and says that any nation, warned or promised, can change what happens to it by what it does; Judah answers by plotting against the prophet.
  13. 19 The Broken Jar Jeremiah takes a potter's jar and the city's elders to the valley where children were once burned, announces that Jerusalem will be broken past mending, and shatters the jar before them.
  14. 20 A Burning Fire Shut Up in My Bones A temple officer beats Jeremiah and locks him in the stocks; the prophet answers with a new name for his tormentor, then pours out a prayer of complaint.
Jeremiah 21–29

Kings, Shepherds, and False Prophets

Words to the last kings of Judah and against the prophets who promise peace. Among them is the promise of a righteous Branch from David, the seventy years, and a letter to the exiles in Babylon.

  1. 21 The Way of Life and the Way of Death Zedekiah asks for a miracle while Babylon besieges the city, and Jeremiah answers that the Lord Himself is now the enemy, but that anyone who leaves the city may still live.
  2. 22 The Kings of Judah Jeremiah is sent to the palace with a choice for the house of David, then names three kings in turn, and sets beside them a father who judged the cause of the poor.
  3. 23 The Lord Our Righteousness The Lord condemns the shepherds who scattered His flock, promises a righteous Branch of David who will gather and rule it, and shows how to tell a prophet who has stood in His counsel from one who speaks his own dreams.
  4. 24 Two Baskets of Figs Jeremiah sees good figs and bad figs before the temple, and the Lord says which Judahites are which. The exiles in Babylon are the good ones, and the king and people still in Jerusalem are the bad.
  5. 25 The Cup of His Fury After twenty-three years of unheeded warning, Jeremiah names Babylon as the Lord's instrument, sets the limit of its rule at seventy years, and hands a cup of judgment to every nation, beginning with Jerusalem.
  6. 26 Thou Shalt Surely Die Jeremiah repeats his warning in the temple court, is seized and tried for it, and is acquitted when the elders remember Micah; the death of the prophet Urijah shows how near it came.
  7. 27 The Yoke of Babylon Jeremiah puts a wooden yoke on his own neck and sends word to five neighboring kings, and to Judah's king and priests, that the Lord has given the region to Nebuchadnezzar and that the prophets promising otherwise are lying.
  8. 28 The Yokes of Wood and of Iron A prophet from Gibeon promises in the temple that Babylon's yoke will be broken within two years, breaks Jeremiah's wooden yoke to prove it, and learns that the Lord has made it iron.
  9. 29 Seek the Peace of the City A letter to the exiles in Babylon tells them to build houses, pray for the city that holds them, and wait seventy years, and not to believe the prophets who promise a quick return.
Jeremiah 30–33

The New Covenant

Prophecies of Israel’s restoration, given while Jerusalem was under siege. The Lord will gather Israel and Judah, and make a new covenant written in their hearts. Jeremiah buys a field to show he believes it.

  1. 30 I Will Restore Health unto Thee Written in a book for exiles who will read it later, the Lord's word turns from the wound He allowed to the healing He promises, and from the day of Jacob's trouble to a David who will be their king.
  2. 31 A New Covenant Judgment is not the last word. The Lord who scattered Israel loves her, will gather her, and will write His law on her heart.
  3. 32 Buying a Field in a Besieged Land With Babylon's army outside the walls and Jeremiah locked in the palace guardhouse, the Lord tells him to buy a family field, seal the deed in a jar, and trust that people will buy fields here again.
  4. 33 As Sure as Day and Night From a prison cell in a besieged city, Jeremiah hears the Lord promise healing for Jerusalem, a Branch for David, priests who will never lack a man, and a covenant as fixed as day and night.
Jeremiah 34–45

The Fall of Jerusalem

The story of the last years. A king burns the scroll, Jeremiah is put in the dungeon, the city falls, and the survivors carry him to Egypt.

  1. 34 A Liberty to the Sword With Babylon at the gates, King Zedekiah and his people free their Hebrew slaves in a solemn covenant, take them back when the siege lifts, and hear the Lord proclaim a liberty of His own.
  2. 35 Sons Who Keep a Father's Word A family that will not drink the wine Jeremiah sets before them, because their ancestor forbade it, becomes the Lord's evidence against a people who will not hear Him.
  3. 36 The Burned Scroll Jeremiah's twenty-three years of warnings are written on a scroll and read in the temple, and the king burns it a column at a time. The Lord has the whole thing written again, with more.
  4. 37 Where Are Now Your Prophets? While Egypt's army draws the Babylonians off Jerusalem, King Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to pray, is told the relief is a mirage, and then has the prophet arrested and secretly consulted in turn.
  5. 38 Thy Life Shall Be for a Prey Jerusalem's princes lower Jeremiah into a mud-bottomed cistern for telling the people to surrender; a foreign eunuch pulls him out, and the king asks in secret what the Lord says and will not do it.
  6. 39 The City Is Broken Up After eighteen months of siege the walls give way, the last king of Judah is blinded and carried off, and the prophet the city jailed is the one the conquerors protect.
  7. 40 The Remnant at Mizpah Jerusalem is gone, Jeremiah is freed by the Babylonian who destroyed it, and a small band of survivors gathers around a governor who will not believe he is in danger.
  8. 41 The Governor Murdered at Mizpah A prince of David's line murders the governor Babylon appointed, and the frightened remnant turns toward Egypt, stopping near Bethlehem.
  9. 42 Go Not into Egypt The survivors of Judah ask Jeremiah to pray and promise to obey whatever the Lord says; when the answer is to stay, they go to Egypt anyway.
  10. 43 To Tahpanhes The survivors of Judah, having sworn to obey the Lord and then refused, carry Jeremiah to Egypt, where he hides stones at Pharaoh's door and says whose throne will stand on them.
  11. 44 Whose Words Shall Stand In Egypt, Jews who disobeyed the Lord to get there say they prospered while worshiping the queen of heaven. Jeremiah's last recorded prophecy tells them whose word will stand.
  12. 45 Seek Them Not Jeremiah's scribe, worn out by the words he has been writing down, is told through the prophet to ask for nothing great, and is promised the one thing the coming judgment will leave him, his life.
Jeremiah 46–52

The Nations and the End

Prophecies against Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, and others, ending with Babylon itself. Chapter 52 closes the book with the history of Jerusalem’s fall.

  1. 46 Egypt Rises Like a Flood Pharaoh's great army marches out like a flood and is broken at the Euphrates; the Lord then names the cities of Egypt that Nebuchadnezzar will strike, and turns to Jacob with the words “fear not.”
  2. 47 Waters Out of the North A short oracle against the Philistines pictures a flood from the north and a sword that cannot rest, and ends with no promise of return.
  3. 48 Moab Hath Been at Ease Jeremiah's longest oracle against a neighbor says that Moab's long comfort, pride, and trust in riches and in Chemosh will end in the exile Moab has never known, while the Lord mourns for the land and promises a return in the latter days.
  4. 49 Thou Shalt Surely Drink of It Five neighbors of Judah, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, the desert tribes, and Elam, are told that the cup of the Lord's wrath passes to them too, and that two of them will one day be brought back.
  5. 50 Babylon Is Taken The empire that scattered Israel is told it will fall to a coalition from the north, and the Lord promises that Israel and Judah will come back together, weeping, to a covenant that will not be forgotten.
  6. 51 Thus Shall Babylon Sink The empire that devoured Judah is told it will fall, the exiles are told to flee before it does, and a scroll of the whole prophecy is sunk in the Euphrates as a sign.
  7. 52 Thus Judah Was Carried Away The book ends not with a prophecy but with a report. Jerusalem is besieged, the king blinded, the temple stripped, and an exiled king let out of prison.

Beloved passages

Most-used sources

Every note cites its sources. These are the ones this commentary leans on most.