Jeremiah

Also known as: Jeremiah the prophet / the prophet / the prophet Jeremiah · Family: Judah · Role: prophet · First appears: Jeremiah 1

Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah and with Hamutal named as his mother, was ordained by God as a prophet to the nations before his birth. God sent him to speak whatever he was commanded, placed divine words in his mouth, and made him a fortified city and iron pillar against Judah’s kings, princes, priests, and people. Through the early chapters, Jeremiah proclaimed messages in Jerusalem and Judah, called Israel to return, warned of devastation, performed signs with a linen girdle and a broken bottle, and was told not to pray for the condemned people. “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

In chapter 20, Pashur struck Jeremiah and put him in the stocks; after his release, Jeremiah declared that God had renamed him Magormissabib and judged him and his household for captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah continued delivering God’s commands to Pashur, Zephaniah, and Zedekiah, urging submission to Babylon’s yoke and judging Hananiah when he broke the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck. At the house of the LORD, priests, prophets, and people seized him and called for his death, but Ahikam protected him. While Zedekiah imprisoned him for prophesying Jerusalem’s capture, Jeremiah bought Hanameel’s field in Anathoth and entrusted the purchase documents to Baruch.

In chapters 36–40, Jeremiah dictated God’s words to Baruch for a scroll; after Jehoiakim burned it, Jeremiah dictated another. He was accused by Irijah, beaten, imprisoned, and later cast into a muddy dungeon when Zedekiah surrendered him to the princes. Zedekiah also secretly questioned him, ordered him kept in the prison court with daily bread, and commanded Ebedmelech to remove him from the dungeon. Ebedmelech pulled him out, and Nebuzaradan released him from his chains and directed him to live with Gedaliah, where Jeremiah dwelt among the people left in the land.

In chapters 42–51, Jeremiah agreed to pray for the remnant and declare God’s answer, but exposed Johanan, Jezaniah, and the people when they rejected it and went to Egypt. At Tahpanhes, God commanded Jeremiah to hide great stones at Pharaoh’s house, and Jeremiah continued proclaiming judgments concerning Egypt, the Philistines, Elam, and Babylon. He commanded Seraiah to read his written judgment against Babylon, while Daniel later understood from books the seventy years spoken by God to Jeremiah concerning Jerusalem’s desolations.