Jeremiah began prophesying about 626 B.C. After the death of King Josiah, many groups of people in Israel opposed Jeremiah. Some of these people wanted to depend on Egypt to protect the nation. Others were idol worshipers. They hated Jeremiah for denouncing their gods. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/falsegod]])
During the reign of King Jehoiakim, Jeremiah prophesied about the temple of Yahweh. King Jehoiakim received some of these prophecies in writing and burned the document. The next king, Zedekiah, put Jeremiah in prison when he told the king to surrender to Babylon.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah in 597 B.C. He conquered Jerusalem in 587 B.C. He offered Jeremiah housing and money if Jeremiah would go to Babylon. But Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem to help the few Jews left there.
Shortly after that, Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had chosen to be governor over Judah, was murdered. Some Jewish rebels captured Jeremiah and took him to Egypt. Those rebels went to Egypt to be protected there rather than to live under Nebuchadnezzar's rule. Jeremiah may have died soon after being taken to Egypt. But while in Egypt he prophesied that the Babylonians would invade and conquer Egypt.
The traditional title of this book is "The Book of Jeremiah" or just "Jeremiah." Translators may also call it the "The Book about Jeremiah" or "What the Prophet Jeremiah Said." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/translate-names]])
Jeremiah was a priest and a prophet living in Judah. He spoke the prophesies in the Book of Jeremiah. A friend named Baruch wrote down many of the prophecies as Jeremiah spoke them to him.
Jeremiah introduced a "new covenant" between Yahweh and Israel (chapter 31). Yahweh would "write this covenant on the hearts" of the people. This means that the covenant would be a part of the people instead of just written on stone or paper. The people would obey the new covenant with all their heart. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/newcovenant]])
Much of the Old Testament before this time is only about the nation of Israel. But Jeremiah also spoke of how Yahweh would judge other nations of the world. Yahweh would also punish the other nations for their wicked deeds. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/judge]] and [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/sin]])
Many of the events in the Book of Jeremiah are not told in the order that they actually happened. Instead, the various prophecies appear to be arranged by topic.
Many times in the book, the author refers to Jeremiah as "Jeremiah" or "he." This is unusual if Jeremiah wrote the book. The reason this occurs is perhaps because Baruch, Jeremiah's secretary, wrote down some parts of the book. Translators should keep the words "Jeremiah" and "he."
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