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Jeremiah — the weeping prophet

The prophet who warned Judah of exile and wept over Jerusalem's fall, promising a new covenant.

Role: Prophet

Lived: c. 7th century BC

Belonged to: Prophets

Born: Anathoth

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 2 Archaeology — physical evidence · 1

Origin & birthplace

BibleA priest of Anathoth, called by God from before his birth to be a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:1, 5

↳ Anathoth

Life, role & deeds

Matson Collection — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons) ArchaeologySeal impressions naming officials the book mentions — such as Gedaliah and Jehucal — have been found in controlled excavations in the City of David.

Bullae of Yehukal (Jehucal) son of Shelemyahu (found 2005) and Gedalyahu (Gedaliah) son of Pashhur (found 2007–08), from the City of David / Large Stone Structure excavations directed by Eilat Mazar; cf. Jeremiah 38:1.

↳ Jerusalem

Prophecy & fulfilment

BibleHe foretold both the seventy years of exile and a coming new covenant written on the heart.

Jeremiah 25:11; 31:31

Where in scripture

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:5 Jeremiah 31:31

In their own words — 82 recorded sayings

“Then said I, O Lord God! see, I have no power of words, for I am a child.” — Jeremiah 1:6

“Then said I, Ah, Lord God! your words were not true when you said to this people and to Jerusalem, You will have peace; when the sword has come even to the soul.” — Jeremiah 4:10

“And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths.” — Jeremiah 7:28

“Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up. For the children of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the Lord: they have put their disgusting images in the house which is named by my name, making it unclean. And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind.” — Jeremiah 7:29-31

“The loud breathing of the horses comes to our ears from Dan: at the sound of the outcry of his war-horses, all the land is shaking with fear; for they have come, and have made a meal of the land and everything in it; the town and the people living in it.” — Jeremiah 8:16

“The bodies of men will be falling like waste on the open fields, and like grain dropped by the grain-cutter, and no one will take them up.” — Jeremiah 9:22

“This is what you are to say to them: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth will be cut off from the earth and from under the heavens. He has made the earth by his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by his wise design the heavens have been stretched out.” — Jeremiah 10:11-12

“Sorrow is mine for I am wounded! my wound may not be made well; and I said, Cruel is my disease, I may not be free from it. My tent is pulled down and all my cords are broken: my children have gone from me, and they are not: no longer is there anyone to give help in stretching out my tent and hanging up my curtains. For the keepers of the sheep have become like beasts, not looking to the Lord for directions: so they have not done wisely and all their flocks have been put to flight. News is going about, see, it is coming, a great shaking is coming from the north country, so that the towns of…” — Jeremiah 10:19-25

…and 74 more recorded sayings.

Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).