Jeremiah

Jeremiah is a prophet of Yahweh whose call, preaching, prayers, and conflicts are portrayed in the book that bears his name; his name is also rendered Jeremias and Jeremy. The text says that before forming him in the womb Yahweh knew him, sanctified him, and appointed him a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). When Jeremiah objects that he is only a child, Yahweh tells him not to say so, commands him to go to whomever he sends and to speak whatever he commands, and promises to be with him and rescue him (Jeremiah 1:7–8). The account adds that Yahweh touched his mouth, put his words in it, and set him over nations and kingdoms to uproot, tear down, destroy, overthrow, build, and plant (Jeremiah 1:9–10).

Scripture presents his ministry as both a call to repentance and a burden borne in prayer. He urges Jerusalem to wash its heart from wickedness so that it may be saved (Jeremiah 4:14). He also brings a complaint to God, confessing that Yahweh is righteous while asking why the wicked prosper and the treacherous are at ease (Jeremiah 12:1). He describes God’s words as found and eaten, a joy and rejoicing to his heart because he is called by Yahweh’s name (Jeremiah 15:16), and he expresses confidence that Yahweh is with him as a mighty warrior so that his persecutors will stumble and not prevail (Jeremiah 20:11). His prayer acknowledges Yahweh as maker of heaven and earth, for whom nothing is too hard, great in counsel and mighty in work, whose eyes see all human ways (Jeremiah 32:17, 32:19).

Historically, Jeremiah is placed in the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE, in the last decades of the kingdom of Judah and the beginning of the Babylonian exile. The book’s oracles and narratives reflect that setting, and the promise that opponents will fight but not prevail (Jeremiah 1:19) belongs to the text’s presentation of his prophetic vocation rather than to an untroubled public success.

Jewish and Christian traditions both honor Jeremiah as a true prophet, but they read him with different emphases. Jewish tradition commonly places him among the prophets who call Israel back to covenant faithfulness and who interpret the destruction of Jerusalem; Christian tradition often reads his laments, his eating of God’s word, and his suffering as patterns that point toward Christ and faithful witness, though Christians differ over how much of the book comes directly from the prophet and how much from later editors. These are traditional and interpretive judgments, not claims that the text itself makes.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.