Bible Stories: Jeremiah

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Bible Stories

Rusty's Notes

Books of the Bible

• History
• Pentateuch – Torah
  • Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy
• Period of the Judges
  • Joshua, Judges, Ruth
  • 1 & 2 Samuel
• Period of the Kings
  • 1 & 2 Kings
  • 1 & 2 Chronicles
  • Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther
• Poetry
  • Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
• Prophets (Major)
  • Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations & Ezekiel
• Prophets (Minor)
  • Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi

Prophets – Chronologically

• 865-847 BC – Elijah (1 & 2 Kings)
• 847-798 BC – Elisha (2 Kings)
• 786-747 BC – Jonah
• 760-750 BC – Amos
• 750-710 BC – Hosea
• 742-701 BC – Isaiah
• 735-700 BC – Micah
• 650-612 BC – Nahum
• 640-620 BC – Zephaniah
• 627-575 BC – Jeremiah
• 620-600 BC – Habakkuk
• 605-536 BC - Daniel
• 593-571 BC – Ezekiel
• 590-580 BC – Obadiah
• 587 BC         - Destruction of Temple by Babylonians
• 520 BC        – Haggai
• 520-515 BC – Zechariah
• 515-510 BC – Joel
• 500-460 BC - Malachi

 
Jeremiah

• Prophetic ministry began in 626 BC
• No event recorded in chapters 1-51 occurred after 580 BC.
• Longest book in the Bible based upon the number of words.
• The Lord commanded Jeremiah not to marry and raise children because the impending divine judgment on Judah would wipe out the next generation.
• Primarily a prophet of doom, he attracted only a few friends.
• Baruch was his best friend that was his traveling secretary. Probably responsible for writing the book of Jeremiah.

 
Jeremiah 1-3

• Unfaithful Israel

Jeremiah 4-6

• Prediction of Judgment

Jeremiah 7-10

• Temple Sermon: Predicted Judgment

Jeremiah 11-13

• Israel Rejected

Jeremiah 14-17

• Jeremiah Prays

Jeremiah 18-20

• Experiences as a Prophet

Jeremiah 21-23

• Prophecies against Judah’s Kings

Jeremiah 24-26

• Prophecies about the Coming Captivity

Jeremiah 27-29

• The Yoke of Babylon

Jeremiah 30-33

• Book of Consolation

Jeremiah 34-39

• Siege and Fall of Jerusalem

Jeremiah 40-45

• Jeremiah Stays with His People

Jeremiah 46-52

• Judgment Against the Nations

 
Jeremiah 1:4–19 (HCSB) - 627 BC

• The Call of Jeremiah -

4 The word of the LORD came to me:
    5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
    I set you apart before you were born.
    I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
 
6 But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, GOD! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

• The term na'ar most commonly means “boy.” His objection is that he is not yet a man according to ancient Israelite standards: he is still under 20, quite likely between 12–16 years old at the time of his calling.[1]

 
7 Then the LORD said to me:
    Do not say, “I am only a youth,”
    for you will go to everyone I send you to
    and speak whatever I tell you.
    8 Do not be afraid of anyone,
    for I will be with you to deliver you.
    This is the LORD’s declaration.
 
9 Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me:
    I have now filled your mouth with My words.
    10 See, I have appointed you today
    over nations and kingdoms
    to uproot and tear down,
    to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

• Two Visions -

11 Then the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12 The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I watch over My word to accomplish it.”  13 Again the word of the LORD came to me inquiring, “What do you see?”
And I replied, “I see a boiling pot, its lip tilted from the north to the south.”
14 Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster will be poured out from the north  on all who live in the land. 15 Indeed, I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north.”
This is the LORD’s declaration.
 
    They will come, and each king will set up his throne
    at the entrance to Jerusalem’s gates.
    They will attack all her surrounding walls
    and all the other cities of Judah.
 
16 “I will pronounce My judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.
17 “Now, get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them or I will cause you to cower before them. 18 Today, I am the One who has made you a fortified city,  an iron pillar, and bronze walls  against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population. 19 They will fight against you but never prevail over you, since I am with you to rescue you.”
This is the LORD’s declaration.
 

• The priest worked primarily to conserve the past by protecting and maintaining the sanctuary ministry, but the prophet labored to change the present so the nation would have a future.
• The ministry of a prophet, however, was different from the priest, because you never knew from one day to the next what the Lord would call you to say or do.
• When the prophet saw the people going in the wrong direction, he sought to call them back to the right path[2]

 
Jeremiah 17:5–11 (HCSB)
5 This is what the Lord says:
The man who trusts in mankind,
who makes human flesh his strength
and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed.
6 He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;
he cannot see when good comes
but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 The man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.
8 He will be like a tree planted by water:
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn’t fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.
The Deceitful Heart
9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else,
and incurable—who can understand it?
10 I, Yahweh, examine the mind,
I test the heart
to give to each according to his way,
according to what his actions deserve.
11 He who makes a fortune unjustly
is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.
In the middle of his days
his riches will abandon him,
so in the end he will be a fool.

•  The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart[3]

 
Jeremiah 27 – Temple has been overtaken by King Neb and Babylonians. Many Jews have been exiled to Babylonia.
Jeremiah 28 – Hanania (false prophet) says that King Neb’s reign is going to end. Jeremiah speaks a different prophecy and tells Hanania that he is liar and is going to die this year. 7 months later Hanania died.
 
Jeremiah 29:4–14 (HCSB) - 594 BC
4 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. 7 Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper.”
8 For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, 9 for they are prophesying falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
10 For this is what the Lord says: “When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place I deported you from.”
 
Jeremiah 33:1–9 (HCSB)
Israel’s Restoration
33 While he was still confined in the guard’s courtyard, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time: 2 “The Lord who made the earth, the Lord who forms it to establish it, Yahweh is His name, says this: 3 Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know. 4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah’s kings, the ones torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: 5 The people coming to fight the Chaldeans will fill the houses with the corpses of their own men that I strike down in My wrath and rage. I have hidden My face from this city because of all their evil. 6 Yet I will certainly bring health and healing to it and will indeed heal them. I will let them experience the abundance of peace and truth. 7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and of Israel and will rebuild them as in former times. 8 I will purify them from all the wrongs they have committed against Me, and I will forgive all the wrongs they have committed against Me, rebelling against Me. 9 This city will bear on My behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I will do for them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace I will bring about for them.
 
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (HCSB)
The New Covenant
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke even though I had married them” —the Lord’s declaration. 33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them” —this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin.”

[1] Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Je 1:6). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (p. 11). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (p. 79). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.