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Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple.
According to the narrative of the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet emerged as a significant figure in the Kingdom of Judah in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC. Born into a Kohen, Jeremiah reluctantly accepted his call to prophethood, embarking on a tumultuous ministry more than five decades long. His life was marked by opposition, imprisonment, and personal struggles, according to Jeremiah 32 and 37. Central to Jeremiah's message were Bible prophecy of impending divine judgment, forewarning of the nation's idolatry, social injustices, and moral decay. According to the Bible, he prophesied the siege of Jerusalem and Babylonian captivity as consequences for disobedience. Jeremiah's teachings encompassed , oracles, and symbolic acts, emphasising the urgency of repentance and the restoration of a covenant relationship with God.
Jeremiah is an essential figure in both Judaism and Christianity. His words are read in as part of the haftara and he is quoted in the New Testament., , Islam also regards Jeremiah as a prophet and his narrative is recounted in Islamic tradition.
Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a priest from the land of Benjamin in the village of Anathoth. The difficulties he encountered, as described in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, have prompted scholars to refer to him as "the weeping prophet".
Jeremiah was called to prophecy BC by God to proclaim Jerusalem's coming destruction by invaders from the north. This was because Israel had forsaken God by worshiping the Idolatry of Baal, , , and burning their children as offerings to Baal. The nation had deviated so far from God's laws that they had broken the covenant, causing God to withdraw his blessings. Jeremiah was guided by God to proclaim that the nation of Judah would suffer famine, foreign conquest, plunder, and captivity in a land of strangers.,
According to , Yahweh called Jeremiah to prophesy in about 626 BC, about five years before Josiah's famous reforms. However, they were insufficient to save Judah and Jerusalem from destruction, because of the sins of Manasseh, Josiah's grandfather, and Judah's return to the idolatry of foreign gods after Josiah's death., Jeremiah was said to have been appointed to reveal the sins of the people and the punishment to come.
Jeremiah resisted the call by complaining that he was only a child and did not know how to speak, but the Lord placed the word in Jeremiah's mouth, commanding "Get yourself ready!" The qualities of a prophet listed in Jeremiah 1 include not being afraid, standing up to speak, speaking as told, and going where sent., Since Jeremiah is described as emerging well trained and fully literate from his earliest preaching, his relationship with the Shaphan family has been used to suggest that he may have trained at the scribal school in Jerusalem over which Shaphan presided.
In his early years of being a prophet, Jeremiah was primarily a preaching prophet, preaching throughout Israel. He condemned idolatry, the greed of priests, and false prophets.,, Many years later, God instructed Jeremiah to write down these early oracles and his other messages. Charles Cutler Torrey argues that the prophet accuses priests and scribes of altering the Torah with "scribal additions" to accommodate the worship of other deities.Torrey, Charles C. "The Background of Jeremiah 1–10". Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 56, no. 3, 1937, pp. 193–216. . Retrieved 5 June 2023.
A priest, Pashur the son of Immer, a temple official in Jerusalem, had Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin for a day. After this, Jeremiah laments the travails and mockery that speaking God's word have caused him. He recounts how, if he tries to shut God's word inside, it burns in his heart and he is unable to hold it in.
According to the book of Jeremiah, during the reign of King Zedekiah, the Lord instructed Jeremiah to make a yoke with the message that the nation would be subject to the king of Babylon. The false prophet Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it, prophesying that within two years the Lord would break the yoke of the king of Babylon, but Jeremiah prophesied in return: "You have broken the yoke of wood, but you have made instead a yoke of iron."
The Babylonians released Jeremiah, and showed him great kindness, allowing him to choose the place of his residence, according to a Babylonian edict. Jeremiah accordingly went to Mizpah in Benjamin with Gedaliah, who had been made governor of Judea.
According to Rainer Albertz, first there were early collections of oracles, including material in ch. 2–6, 8–10, 13, 21–23, etc. Then there was an early redaction which Albertz dates to around 550 BC, with the original ending to the book at 25:13. There was a second redaction around 545–540 BC which added much more material, up to about ch. 45. Then there was a third redaction around 525–520 BC, expanding the book up to the ending at 51:64. Then there were further post-exilic redactions adding ch. 52 and editing content throughout the book.
Although Jeremiah was often thought of traditionally as the author of the Book of Lamentations, this is probably a collection of individual and communal laments by others composed at various times throughout the Babylonian captivity.
Проро́ка Твоего́ Иереми́и па́мять, Го́споди, пра́зднующе,/ тем Тя мо́лим:// спаси́ ду́ши на́ша.
Proroka Tvoego Ieremii pamyat’, Gospodi, prazdnuyushche,/ tem Tya molim:// spasi dushi nasha.
Kontakion Prophet Jeremias — Tone 3
Очи́стив ду́хом, вели́кий проро́че и му́чениче,/ твое́ светоза́рное се́рдце,/ сла́вне Иереми́е,/ проро́чествия дар свы́ше прия́л еси́/ и возопи́л еси́ велегла́сно во страна́х:/ се Бог наш, и не приложи́тся ин к Нему́,// И́же, вопло́щся, на земли́ яви́лся есть.
Ochistiv dukhom, veliky proroche i mucheniche,/ tvoe svetozarnoe serdtse,/ slavne Ieremie,/ prorochestviya dar svyshe priyal yesi/ i vozopil yesi veleglasno vo stranakh:/ se Bog nash, i ne prilozhitsa in k Nemu,// Izhe, voploshchsya, na zemli yavilsya yest’.
In Christianity, there are several feast days which commemorate Jeremiah:
The narratives of Jeremiah in Islamic belief closely correspond with the account given in the Hebrew Bible, and are found in the Ibn Kathir work of al-Bidaya wa l-Nihaya & Qisas Al-Anbiya (History of prophets), Al-Tabari work of "History of the Prophets and Kings", and Ibn Asakir work of "History of Damascus".
Islamic literature narrated a detailed account of the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), which parallels the account given in the Book of Jeremiah. Tabari, i, 646ff.
According to al-Qurtubi, the interpretation of the 11th verse Quran chapter Al-Anbiya has mentioned the unnamed figure in the verse as Jeremiah, which musing in the similar narrative with the biblical version of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Jerusalem. However, al-Qurtubi also further added in his interpretation that during the meeting of Jeremiah with Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah revealed to him about the prophesied advent of Muhammad in the land of Hejaz.
Ibn Kathir tafsir narrate that the Parable of the Hamlet in Ruins, which from the 259th verse of Al-Baqara chapter focused about Jeremiah, when he was commanded by God to reconstruct the devastated Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. Tafsir al-Qurtubi, vol. 3, p. 188; Tafsir al-Qummi, vol. 1, p. 117.
In Quran Sura (chapter) 17 (Al-Isra), Ayah (verse) 4–7, that is about the two corruptions of Israelites on the earth, some hadith and tafsir cite that one of these corruptions is the imprisonment and persecution of Jeremiah. Separately, Ibn Kathir interpretation of the 11th verse of al-Isra also discussed about Jeremiah.
Wahb ibn Munabbih, who gave Israʼiliyyat account about Jeremiah which turned "upon the main points of the Old Testament story of Jeremiah: his call to be a prophet, his mission to the king of Judah, his mission to the people and his reluctance, the announcement of a foreign tyrant who is to rule over Judah."
According to some Jewish narratives and Ibn Kathir, Zoroaster was once a disciple of Jeremiah.Ibn Kathir, Stories of the Prophets, The Story of the Prophet Jeremiah However, the two of them came into conflict which ended with Jeremiah disowning Zoroaster. Jeremiah then cast a curse upon Zoroaster, causing him to suffer leprosy. Zoroaster later moved to a place in modern-day Azerbaijan, ruled by Bashtaasib, governor of Nebuchadnezzar, and spread his teaching of Zoroastrianism there. Bashtaasib then followed his teaching, forced the inhabitants of Persia to convert to Zoroastrianism and killed those who refused. Ibn Kathir quoted the original narrative which was borrowed from Tabari's record of the "History of Jerusalem". He also mentioned that Zoroastrian was synonymous with Majus.
Jeremiah has periodically been a popular first name in the United States, beginning with the early Puritan settlers, who often took the names of biblical prophets and apostles. Jeremiah was substituted for the Irish Diarmuid/Diarmaid (also anglicised as Dermot), with which it has no etymological connection, when Gaelic names were frowned upon in official records. The name Jeremy also derives from Jeremiah.
Sohrab Sepehri, an Iranian poet and painter, has mentioned Jeremiah in his work as "The weeping prophet".
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