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 proclaimed his prophecies about the temple of Yahweh. King Jehoiakim received some of these prophecies in writing and burned the document. The next king, Zedekiah, imprisoned Jeremiah when he called for the king to surrender to Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, invaded Judah in 597 B.C. and conquered Jerusalem in 587 B.C. He offered Jeremiah housing and money if he would go to Babylon. However, Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem to help the few Jews who were 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 for protection 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 Book of Jeremiah" may also be called the "The Book about Jeremiah" or "What the Prophet Jeremiah said." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/translate-names]])
This book contains prophecies spoken by Jeremiah, who was a priest and a prophet living in Judah. Jeremiah's friend, Baruch, wrote down many of the prophecies as Jeremiah spoke them to him.
Jeremiah 31 introduced a "new covenant" between Yahweh and Israel. This covenant would be "written on the hearts" of the people. This means that the covenant will be a part of the people instead of just written on stone. The people would obey the new covenant with all their heart. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/newcovenant]])
While much of the Old Testament prior to this time is concerned only with the nation of Israel, Jeremiah also spoke about God's judgment on the other nations of the world. God would also punish other nations for the wicked things they did. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/judge]] and [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/sin]])
No, 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 their topic.
There are many instances in the book where 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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