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Major prophets

The book of Jeremiah

Written 629–585 BCApproximate date

By Jeremiah, with Baruch as scribeHebrew52 chapters, 1,364 verses, 40,457 words

Jeremiah’s warnings to Judah before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, and his promise of a new covenant.

Jeremiah was called in the thirteenth year of Josiah and prophesied until after Jerusalem’s fall. His scribe Baruch wrote out his words twice, after the king burned the first scroll (Jeremiah 36). It includes the promise of a new covenant (31:31–34), quoted in Hebrews 8.

Kinds of writing

Key verses

Known and appointed before he was born. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:5 (World English Bible)

The heart is deceitful. The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:9 (World English Bible)

Plans for a hope and a future. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 (World English Bible)

A new covenant. “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,”

Jeremiah 31:31 (World English Bible)

Jerusalem's wall is broken through. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.

Jeremiah 39:2 (World English Bible)

People

JeremiahBaruchJosiahJehoiakimZedekiahNebuchadnezzarGedaliah

Places

AnathothJerusalemValley of HinnomRiblahMizpahTahpanhesEgyptBabylon

On the timeline

God calls JeremiahJehoiakim burns Jeremiah's scrollJeremiah's letter to the exilesBabylon besieges JerusalemJerusalem falls; the temple is burnedGovernor Gedaliah murderedJeremiah taken to EgyptJehoiachin released from prison

The New Testament quotes or alludes to Jeremiah 11 times (counted in the site’s Old in the New).

Dating notes

Ussher’s dates for Jeremiah’s call (629 BC) and the end of his ministry run a few years earlier than some others. The span is an estimate; Scripture doesn’t say when the book was written.

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