Jeremiah 32 – “Symbolic Act: Jeremiah Purchases Land with a Deed”

I. Summary

Yahweh tells Jeremiah to buy a piece of land with a deed at the very moment that Jerusalem is besieged. When Jeremiah asks why, Yahweh responds that he will exile the people before bringing them back, at which point they will buy parcels of land with deeds of sale.

II. Photo

Yahweh will restore the economy: “Fields shall be purchased, and deeds written and sealed, and witnesses called… for I will restore their fortunes” (v. 44)

III. Select Verses

1-2: The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the prison compound attached to the palace of the king of Judah.

7-8: Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my land in Anathoth, for you are next in succession to redeem it by purchase.” And just as the LORD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the prison compound and said to me, “Please buy my land in Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin; for the right of succession is yours, and you have the duty of redemption. Buy it.” Then I knew that it was indeed the word of the LORD.

14-15: Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these documents, this deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one, and put them into an earthen jar, so that they may last a long time.” For thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses, fields, and vineyards shall again be purchased in this land.”

24-25: Here are the siegemounds, raised against the city to storm it; and the city, because of sword and famine and pestilence, is at the mercy of the Chaldeans who are attacking it. What You threatened has come to pass — as You see. Yet You, Lord GOD, said to me: Buy the land for money and call in witnesses — when the city is at the mercy of the Chaldeans!”

43-44: And fields shall again be purchased in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.” Fields shall be purchased, and deeds written and sealed, and witnesses called in the land of Benjamin and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah; the towns of the hill country, the towns of the Shephelah, and the towns of the Negeb. For I will restore their fortunes — declares the LORD.

IV. Outline

1-6. Introduction

    1-2a. General introduction: prophecy during Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem during the reign of Zedekiah

    2b-5. The prophecy of exile that landed Jeremiah in prison

    6. Introduction proper

7-25. The Deed    

    7-8. Proof of prophecy: Hanamel asks Jeremiah to buy his land, as Yahweh foretold

    9-10. Jeremiah buys the land and writes a deed

    11-15. Symbolic act: Jeremiah gives the deed to Baruch son of Neriah to keep, for fields will be purchased again in the land

16-25. Jeremiah’s complaint

    16. Introduction

    17-23a. Hymnic praise: kindness, might, judiciousness, miracles in Egypt, giving the land

    23b. The people have sinned, which led to their punishment

    24-25. Petition: How could Yahweh speak to Jeremiah about a land deed in the midst of Jerusalem’s destruction?

26-44. Yahweh’s response

    26. Introduction

    27. Self praise (hymnic): Yahweh can do anything

    28-29. The Babylonians will capture and destroy the idolatrous city

    30-35. The people are guilty of idolatry

    36-37. Yahweh will gather in the exiles

    38-41. The new covenant, when the people will not turn away

    42-44. The land will be resettled and people will write deeds (hence the symbolic action)

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 31 – “Oracles of Return; The New Covenant; Rebuilding Jerusalem”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh promises to gather in the exiles so that they can live joyous, prosperous, and righteous lives. He will create a new covenant which cannot be broken. He will also rebuild the outer limits of Jerusalem.

II. Photo

Yahweh will settle the people: “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.” (v. 27)

III. Select Verses

1: At that time — declares the LORD — I will be God to all the clans of Israel, and they shall be My people.

4-6: I will build you firmly again, O Maiden Israel! Again you shall take up your timbrels And go forth to the rhythm of the dancers. Again you shall plant vineyards On the hills of Samaria; Men shall plant and live to enjoy them. For the day is coming when watchmen Shall proclaim on the heights of Ephraim: Come, let us go up to Zion, To the LORD our God!

15-17: Thus says the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. Thus says the LORD: Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for there is a reward for your work, says the LORD: they shall come back from the land of the enemy; there is hope for your future, says the LORD: your children shall come back to their own country.

29-30: In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

31-34: The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

35-37: Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name: If this fixed order were ever to cease from my presence, says the LORD, then also the offspring of Israel would cease to be a nation before me forever. Thus says the LORD: If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will reject all the offspring of Israel because of all they have done, says the LORD.

IV. Outline

1-26. Oracles about the ingathering of the exiles

    1. Introduction: Yahweh and all Israel will be reunited

    2-3. Yahweh revealed his eternal love for Israel in the wilderness (enigmatic statement)

    4-6. Future joy, prosperity, and return to Zion

    7. Call to praise and petition

    8-9. The exiles of “Ephraim” (the north) will be returned

    10-11. Message to the nations: Yahweh will gather in the exiles

    12-14. Zion will prosper and the people will be joyful

    15-17. Rachel cries for her children (Ephraim and Manasseh = the north) but Yahweh promises their return

    18-19. Ephraim’s lament

    20. Yahweh will receive Ephraim with love

    21-22. A call to return (enigmatic statement: like a woman calls for a man?)

    23-25. Future prosperity and righteousness for Judah

26. The point in time that Jeremiah awoke from his sleep

27-30. Oracles about future prosperity

    27. The north and south will be “sowed” with the “seed” of people and cattle

    28. The people who once destroyed will build and plant

    29-30. Pedagogic statement: children will no longer suffer on account of their parents’ sins

31-37. Oracle regarding the new covenant

    31. Introduction

    32-33. Unlike with the original covenant, which Israel broke, this covenant will be placed in the hearts of the people

    34. All the people will know Yahweh and their sins will be forgiven

    35-36. The covenant is as eternal as day and night

    37. The covenenant is unbreakable (just as the heavens cannot be measured)

38-40. Oracle regarding the borders of Jerusalem and the city’s rebuilding

V. Comment

Verses 38-40 mention a number of sites in the vicinity of Jerusalem:

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.

Gerald Lynwood Keown, Pamela J Scalise, and Thomas G Smothers shed the following light on the locations of each of these sites as follows (Jeremiah 26-52, pp. 137-139):

The tower of Hananel: “According to Neh 3:1; 12:39; Zech 14:10, the Tower of Hananel was on the north side of the temple mount.”
The Corner Gate: “The Corner Gate is also mentioned in 2 Kgs 14:13(//2 Chr 25:23), which locates it at the northwest corner, and 2 Chr 26:9, which tells how Uzziah fortified it with a tower. “Gate of the Corners” in Zech 14:10 is probably the same structure.”
The hill Gareb: Location unknown.
Goah: Location unknown.
The valley of the dead bodies and the ashes: “The Valley of ben-Hinnom is infamous in the book of Jeremiah as the site of Topheth, where children were “passed through the fire” to strange gods. The דשן “fatty ashes,” of the sacrificial victim (Lev 6:3 [Eng 10]) would refer to their remains. Jer 19:6–13 warns that Topheth will be filled with dead bodies and graves as a judgment upon the city’s false worship.”
Wadi Kidron: “The Valley of ben-Hinnom joins the Kidron Valley southeast of Jerusalem… The Kidron Valley was a garbage dump (1 Kgs 15:13; 2 Kgs 23:6) and the location of the graves of the common people, which Josiah defiled with the dust and ashes of the image he removed from the temple and destroyed (2 Kgs 23:6).”
The Horse Gate: “North of this intersection, the Kidron lies just outside the eastern wall of the city and the temple. The Horse Gate was located in that wall, somewhere south of the temple mount (Neh 3:28).”

VI. Works Used

Gerald Lynwood Keown, Pamela J Scalise, and Thomas G Smothers. Jeremiah 26-52. Waco: Word Books, 1995. Pp. 137-139.

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 30 – “A Restoration Prophecy”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Jeremiah records his prophecies about the ingathering of the exiles, the reinstated monarchy, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the punishment of his enemies.

II. Photo

Yahweh is likened to a storm: “Look, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.” (v. 23)

III. Select Verses

2-3: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. For the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they shall take possession of it.

6: Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale?

8-9: On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will break the yoke from off his neck, and I will burst his bonds, and strangers shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

15b: Because your guilt is great, because your sins are so numerous, I have done these things to you.

16: Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey.

IV. Outline

1-3. Yahweh tells Jeremiah to record his prophecies for the exiles who return

4. Introduction

5-7. The people will suffer as if in labor

8-9. Yahweh will then free them and reinstate the Davidic king

10-11. The exiles will be returned

12-15. The people’s pain is great

16. Israel’s enemies will be destroyed

17. Yahweh will restore Israel, which was cast off

18. Zion will be restored

19-20. The people will be merry, healthy, and prosperous

21. A ruler will be established

22. Yahweh and Israel’s relationship will be restored

23-24. Yahweh will punish his enemies like a storm

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 29 – “A Letter to the Exiles”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Jeremiah sends a letter to the Babylonian exiles encouraging them to prosper and multiply until their 70 year exile is complete. The letter also dooms the false prophets of Babylon and the people of Jerusalem.

II. Photo

Jeremiah sends a letter: “These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” (v. 1)

III. Select Verses

4-7: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

10-11: For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

13-14a: When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the LORD

24-32: To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: In your own name you sent a letter to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying, The LORD himself has made you priest instead of the priest Jehoiada, so that there may be officers in the house of the LORD to control any madman who plays the prophet, to put him in the stocks and the collar. So now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who plays the prophet for you? For he has actually sent to us in Babylon, saying, “It will be a long time; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat what they produce.” The priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah. Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has led you to trust in a lie, therefore thus says the LORD: I am going to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants; he shall not have anyone living among this people to see the good that I am going to do to my people, says the LORD, for he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.

IV. Outline

1-3. Introduction to Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles

4-32. The Letter

4. Introduction from Yahweh

5-7. Prosper and multiply in Babylon

8-9. The prophets in Babylon are false

10-14. After 70 years Yahweh will return the exiles

15. The people’s belief that prophets have risen in Babylon

16-19. The king and people of Jerusalem will be destroyed

20-23. The false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah will be burned in Babylon and become a byword for cursing

24-32. The false prophet Shemaiah will be punished for sending a letter to Jerusalem trying to suppress Jeremiah

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 28 – “Hananiah’s False Prophecy and Death”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Hananiah prophesies the return of the temple’s vessels and king Jeconiah from Babylon within two years. When Jeremiah is informed that the prophecy is a lie, he warns Hananiah of his imminent death. Hananiah dies within two months.

II. Photo

The power of Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke grows: “Thus says the Lord: You have broken the wooden bars [of Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke] only to forge iron bars in place of them!” (v. 13)

III. Select Verses

1-4: In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says the LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

10: Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, and broke it.

13-14: Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars only to forge iron bars in place of them! For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they shall indeed serve him; I have even given him the wild animals.

15-17: And the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the LORD: I am going to send you off the face of the earth. Within this year you will be dead, because you have spoken rebellion against the LORD.” In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

IV. Outline

1. Introduction to Hananiah’s prophecy in the temple during Zedekiah’s reign

2-4. Babylon’s yoke is broken; the temple vessels and king Jeconiah will be returned

5-6a. Introduction to Jeremiah’s speech

6b. Amen to Hananiah’s prophecy

7-9. Thoughts on peaceful prophecies coming true

10. Hananiah breaks the yoke on Jeremiah’s neck

11. Hananiah’s prophecy: Yahweh will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar

12-14. Yahweh tells Jeremiah that his broken wooden yoke will be replaced with an iron one

15-16. Jeremiah confronts Hananiah and predicts his death

17. Hananiah dies two months later

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 27 – “The Yoke of Babylon; The Temple’s Vessels”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Jeremiah sends yokes to the kings of Judah, Ammon, Moab, Edom, Sidon, and Tyre as an augury for their servitude to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Jeremiah belittles the false prophets and warns that the Temple’s vessels will be brought to Babylon.

II. Photo

Jeremiah speaks in metaphors: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!” (v. 12)

III. Select Verses

2-7: Thus said the LORD to me: Make for yourself thongs and bars of a yoke, and put them on your neck. And send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by envoys who have come to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem; and give them this charge to their masters: Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Say this to your masters: “It is I who made the earth, and the men and beasts who are on the earth, by My great might and My outstretched arm; and I give it to whomever I deem proper. I herewith deliver all these lands to My servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; I even give him the wild beasts to serve him. All nations shall serve him, his son and his grandson — until the turn of his own land comes, when many nations and great kings shall subjugate him.

9-10: As for you, give no heed to your prophets, augurs, dreamers, diviners, and sorcerers, who say to you, ‘Do not serve the king of Babylon.’ For they prophesy falsely to you — with the result that you shall be banished from your land; I will drive you out and you shall perish.

19-22: “For thus said the LORD of Hosts concerning the columns, the tank, the stands, and the rest of the vessels remaining in this city, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take when he exiled King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; for thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels remaining in the House of the LORD, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem: They shall be brought to Babylon, and there they shall remain, until I take note of them — declares the LORD of Hosts — and bring them up and restore them to this place.”

IV. Outline

1. Introduction: Prophecy in Jehoiakim’s first year

2-3. Performance prophecy: yokes for Israel’s neighbors

4-8. Meaning: the kings will serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson

9-10. Those who disagree are false prophets

11. Serving Nebuchadnezzar leads to life

12-15. The same prophecy for Zedekiah; warning against false prophets

16-17. Jeremiah warns the people of the false prophets

18. The false prophets should pray for the Temple’s vessels

19-22. The Temple’s vessels will be brought to Babylon until Yahweh returns them

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 26 – “Jeremiah is Nearly Killed for his Prophecy”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Jeremiah is seized after prophesying doom for the Temple. The people debate whether a prophet must be killed for this action. Jeremiah is ultimately protected by Ahikam.

II. Photo

Jeremiah is seized: “ And when Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You shall die!” (v. 9)

III. Select Verses

7-9: The priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the House of the LORD. And when Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You shall die! How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD that this House shall become like Shiloh and this city be made desolate, without inhabitants?” And all the people crowded about Jeremiah in the House of the LORD.

12-14: Jeremiah said to the officials and to all the people, “It was the LORD who sent me to prophesy against this House and this city all the words you heard. Therefore mend your ways and your acts, and heed the LORD your God, that the LORD may renounce the punishment He has decreed for you. As for me, I am in your hands: do to me what seems good and right to you.

16-19: Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man does not deserve the death penalty, for he spoke to us in the name of the LORD our God.” And some of the elders of the land arose and said to the entire assemblage of the people, “Micah the Morashtite, who prophesied in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus said the LORD of Hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins And the Temple Mount a shrine in the woods.’ “Did King Hezekiah of Judah, and all Judah, put him to death? Did he not rather fear the LORD and implore the LORD, so that the LORD renounced the punishment He had decreed against them? We are about to do great injury to ourselves!”

20-23: There was also a man prophesying in the name of the LORD, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and this land the same things as Jeremiah. King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and all the officials heard about his address, and the king wanted to put him to death. Uriah heard of this and fled in fear, and came to Egypt. But King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt, Elnathan son of Achbor and men with him to Egypt. They took Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.

IV. Outline

1-3. Introduction

    1. Date of prophecy

    2-3. Call to prophecy 

4-6. Jeremiah’s prophecy: disobedience will lead to destruction

7-9. Jeremiah is seized

10-11. The death penalty is proposed

12-15. Jeremiah’s response

    12-13. Jeremiah’s assertion of innocence; call to repent

    14. Acceptance of fate

    15. Condemnation

16-23. The people debate Jeremiah’s fate

    16. The people’s change of heart

    17-19. Micah was not killed and he was a catalyst for repentance

    20-23. Uriah was killed for his prophecies

24. Ahikam son of Shapham protects Jeremiah

V. Comment

Our chapter contains one of the rare biblical occurences when another biblical passage is quoted explicitly. In verses 17-19 the elders quote a prophecy of Micah:

And some of the elders of the land arose and said to the entire assemblage of the people, “Micah the Morashtite, who prophesied in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus said the LORD of Hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins And the Temple Mount a shrine in the woods.’ “Did King Hezekiah of Judah, and all Judah, put him to death? Did he not rather fear the LORD and implore the LORD, so that the LORD renounced the punishment He had decreed against them? We are about to do great injury to ourselves!” (vv. 17-19)

As it turns out, this prophecy does appear word for word in Micah 3:12:

“Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.”

Our chapter also refers to the prophecy of a certain Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jearim, but this figure is not known from any other source.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 25 – “The Cup of Wrath for Judah and the Nations”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh’s prophets have been ignored. Babylon will be destroyed 70 years after Judah. Jeremiah gives the nations a drink from the cup of wrath, signifying their doom.

II. Photo

Jeremiah gives drink to the nations: “So I took the cup from the hand of the Lord and gave drink to all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me.” (v. 17)

III. Select Verses

3: From the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day — these twenty-three years — the word of the LORD has come to me. I have spoken to you persistently, but you would not listen.

11b-14: And those nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. When the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation and the land of the Chaldeans for their sins — declares the LORD — and I will make it a desolation for all time. And I will bring upon that land all that I have decreed against it, all that is recorded in this book — that which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For they too shall be enslaved by many nations and great kings; and I will requite them according to their acts and according to their conduct.

17-20: So I took the cup from the hand of the LORD and gave drink to all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings and officials, to make them a desolate ruin, an object of hissing and a curse — as is now the case; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his courtiers, his officials, and all his people; all the mixed peoples; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines — Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what is left of Ashdod…

33: In that day, the earth shall be strewn with the slain of the LORD from one end to the other. They shall not be mourned, or gathered and buried; they shall become dung upon the face of the earth.

IV. Outline

1-2. Prophecy and date (4th year of Jehoiakim, 1st of Nebuchadnezzar)

3. For 23 years Jeremiah’s prophecies have been ignored

4-7. Other prophets, who condemned idols, have been ignored

8-10. Yahweh will send Nebuchadnezzar to devastate the land

11-12. After 70 years Babylon will be destroyed

13-14. Babylon will receive the punishments reserved for Israel

15-29. Symbolic act: the cup of wrath

    15-16. Yahweh shows Jeremiah a cup of wrath to give to the nations

    17. Symbolic act

    18. Judah

    19. Egypt

    20a. The land of Uz

    20b. The Phillistines

    21. Transjordan: Edom, Moab, Ammon

    22-23. The Arabian tribes

    24. Elam and Persia

    25-26. Other kings; Sheshach (Babylon?)

    27-29. The message Jeremiah must recite

30-31. Proclomation: thunderous Yahweh has a case against the nations

32-33. All men will die

34-38. Shepherd analogy: Yahweh will ravage the shepherds and their flocks

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 24 – “The Fig Analogy”

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh shows Jeremiah a basket of ripe figs to be eaten and a basket of spoiled figs to be discarded. This means that Yahweh will reinstate and bless the Judean exiles but cast off and kill king Zedekiah, his officials, and the Judeans in Egypt.

II. Photo

The analogy is explained: “As with these good figs, so will I single out for good the Judean exiles whom I have driven out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans (Babylon).” (v. 5)

III. Select Verses

2-3: One basket contained very good figs, like first-ripened figs, and the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. And the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “Figs — the good ones are very good, and the bad ones very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

5-7: Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: As with these good figs, so will I single out for good the Judean exiles whom I have driven out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will look upon them favorably, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not overthrow them; I will plant them and not uproot them. And I will give them the understanding to acknowledge Me, for I am the LORD. And they shall be My people and I will be their God, when they turn back to Me with all their heart.

8-10: And like the bad figs, which are so bad that they cannot be eaten — thus said the Lord — so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem that is left in this land, and those who are living in the land of Egypt: I will make them a horror — an evil — to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and a proverb, a byword and a curse in all the places to which I banish them. I will send the sword, famine, and pestilence against them until they are exterminated from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.

IV. Outline

1a. Two baskets of figs at the temple

1b. Date: Zedekiah (after Jeconiah’s exile)

2-3. One basket is ripe, the other cannot be eaten

4-7. Yahweh will reinstate and bless the Judaean exiles

8-10. Yahweh will exterminate Zedekiah, his officials, and the Judeans in Egypt

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Jeremiah 23 – Oracles Condemning the False Prophets

Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh laments the false prophets and vows to punish them.

II. Photo

The prophets are false but Yahweh’s word is truth: “Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” (v. 29)

III. Select Verses

5-6: The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

13: In the prophets of Samaria I saw a repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal And led My people Israel astray.

14: But what I see in the prophets of Jerusalem Is something horrifying: Adultery and false dealing. They encourage evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. To Me they are all like Sodom, And [all] its inhabitants like Gomorrah.

25: I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed!”

29: Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

31: See, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their own tongues and say, “Says the LORD.”

IV. Outline

1-4. Yahweh will gather the “flock” and replace its “shepherds”

5-6. Yahweh will raise a Davidic leader named “Yahweh Zidqeinu” (Zedekiah?)

7-8. The ingathering will define Israel more than the exodus

9-12. Yahweh laments and pronounces doom for his prophets and priests

13. Samaria’s prophets follow Baal

14. Jerusalem’s prophets do evil

15. Future punishment; rationale

16-18. Do not follow the false prophets

19-20. Future punishment for the wicked

21-22. The prophets are false

23-24. Yahweh is not easy to reach

25-27. The prophets are liars

28-29. Yahweh’s word is true and powerful

30-32. Yahweh opposes the false prophets

33-38. The “Masa of Yahweh” prophecies are false

39-40. Future punishment: exile and shame

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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