Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Jeremiah
Jeremiah is the weeping prophet, called to preach repentance to Judah through its final decades and to weep over a nation that would not turn. His book mingles prophecy, history, and deep personal anguish, and holds out the great hope of a new covenant written on the heart. This commentary walks through it verse by verse.
About This Commentary
The Book of Jeremiah records the long, faithful, and painful ministry of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, a priest from Anathoth, who prophesied roughly 627 to 586 BC, from the reign of Josiah to the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon. He called Judah to repentance that never came, and suffered rejection, imprisonment, and grief for his faithfulness. His scribe Baruch recorded his words. Amid the coming judgment, Jeremiah gives one of the Old Testament's brightest promises: a new covenant in which God writes His law on the heart (31:31-34).
This commentary covers Jeremiah verse by verse, with the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, verified background, and an Apostolic reading. Jeremiah's tears over a lost people foreshadow the greater weeping of Jesus over Jerusalem, and his new covenant is fulfilled in the blood of Christ. References are given at the foot of each chapter.
All 52 chapters of Jeremiah are complete, from his call before birth to the fall of Jerusalem and the closing gleam of mercy on David's line.
Author
Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, priest of Anathoth, with his scribe Baruch.
Setting
Judah's final decades, from Josiah to the fall of Jerusalem, ~627 to 586 BC.
Key Themes
Repentance refused, judgment coming, and a new covenant promised.
Famous Passage
The new covenant written on the heart (31:31-34).
Translation
King James Version (KJV) throughout.
The Chapters
Jeremiah Commentary
The chapters below are available now. The rest are being written and will open here as they are finished and verified.
Jeremiah 1:1-19
Before I Formed You in the Womb
God calls the young Jeremiah, revealing that He knew and appointed him before birth, touches his mouth with His words, and promises to make him a fortified city his enemies cannot overcome.
Read Chapter 1 →Jeremiah 2:1-37
The Fountain of Living Waters
God recalls 'the kindness of thy youth' and charges Judah with two evils, 'they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water,' exposing the folly of idols that cannot save and a people who still deny their sin.
Read Chapter 2 →Jeremiah 3:1-25
Return, Thou Backsliding Israel
Though the Law forbade taking back a faithless wife, God pleads 'yet return again to me,' contrasts backsliding Israel with treacherous Judah, calls 'Turn, O backsliding children... for I am married unto you,' and promises 'Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.'
Read Chapter 3 →Jeremiah 4:1-31
Wash Thine Heart, That Thou Mayest Be Saved
The call to heart-deep repentance, 'Break up your fallow ground,' 'circumcise the foreskins of your heart,' the alarm of a destroyer from the north, the plea 'O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved,' and Jeremiah's anguish over a land undone, 'yet will I not make a full end.'
Read Chapter 4 →Jeremiah 5:1-31
What Will Ye Do in the End Thereof?
God searches Jerusalem for one honest man, exposes a people who refuse correction and 'made their faces harder than a rock,' who will not fear the God who bounds the sea, and ends with the chilling charge, 'the prophets prophesy falsely... and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?'
Read Chapter 5 →Jeremiah 6:1-30
Ask for the Old Paths, and Ye Shall Find Rest
The siege draws near, the false cry 'Peace, peace; when there is no peace,' a people who 'could not blush,' the great call 'ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls,' refused with 'We will not walk therein,' and a people rejected as reprobate silver.
Read Chapter 6 →Jeremiah 7:1-34
Trust Ye Not in Lying Words
The Temple Sermon: 'Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD,' the warning that God's house had become 'a den of robbers,' the lesson of Shiloh, the priority of obedience, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God,' and the horror of Tophet in the valley of Hinnom, soon 'the valley of slaughter.'
Read Chapter 7 →Jeremiah 8:1-22
Is There No Balm in Gilead?
A perpetual backsliding that refuses to return, a people who 'know not the judgment of the LORD' though the stork keeps her seasons, the false cry 'Peace, peace,' and the prophet's grief, 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved... Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?'
Read Chapter 8 →Jeremiah 9:1-26
Let Him That Glorieth Glory in This
The weeping prophet, 'Oh that my head were waters,' a society built on lies where none is 'valiant for the truth,' the refining fire and wormwood of judgment, the call for the mourning women as 'death is come up into our windows,' and the great word 'let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.'
Read Chapter 9 →Jeremiah 10:1-25
The LORD Is the True God, the Living God
The folly of idols that must be carried and cannot speak, 'upright as the palm tree, but speak not,' against the living God, 'the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king,' Maker of heaven and earth and 'the portion of Jacob,' and the prayer 'the way of man is not in himself.'
Read Chapter 10 →Jeremiah 11:1-23
Like a Lamb Brought to the Slaughter
The broken covenant, 'Obey my voice... so shall ye be my people,' the conspiracy of Judah and idols that cannot save, the green olive tree set on fire, and the plot of Jeremiah's own townsmen of Anathoth, 'I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter,' a striking picture of Christ.
Read Chapter 11 →Jeremiah 12:1-17
If Thou Hast Run With the Footmen
The prophet's honest question, 'Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?', God's bracing answer, 'If thou hast run with the footmen... how canst thou contend with horses?', His grief over 'the dearly beloved of my soul' given to her enemies, and the promise of compassion even on the nations.
Read Chapter 12 →Jeremiah 13:1-27
Can the Ethiopian Change His Skin?
The sign of the marred linen girdle, God's people made to cleave to Him 'for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory,' the warning 'Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness,' the weeping prophet, and 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.'
Read Chapter 13 →Jeremiah 14:1-22
O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour in Time of Trouble
The great drought, the people's prayer 'O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble... leave us not,' God's refusal of a repentance that never turns the feet, the lying prophets who promise peace, and the closing confession 'art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee.'
Read Chapter 14 →Jeremiah 15:1-21
Thy Words Were Found, and I Did Eat Them
Even Moses and Samuel could not turn God's mind, the judgment for Manasseh's sin, Jeremiah's lament as 'a man of strife,' his delight, 'Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart,' and God's promise to make him 'a fenced brasen wall... for I am with thee to save thee.'
Read Chapter 15 →Jeremiah 16:1-21
The Gentiles Shall Come From the Ends of the Earth
The prophet forbidden to marry, mourn, or feast as a living sign, the reason for judgment, the promise of a new exodus 'from the land of the north,' the fishers and hunters, and the conversion of the nations, 'the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies.'
Read Chapter 16 →Jeremiah 17:1-27
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
Sin engraved on the heart, the cursed man who trusts in flesh ('like the heath in the desert') and the blessed man who trusts in the LORD ('as a tree planted by the waters'), the great diagnosis 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,' the prayer 'Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed,' and the call to hallow the sabbath.
Read Chapter 17 →Jeremiah 18:1-23
As the Clay Is in the Potter's Hand
The sign of the potter and the clay, 'cannot I do with you as this potter?', the principle that God relents toward a nation that turns from evil, Judah's despairing 'There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices,' the forsaking of the ancient paths, and the plot to 'smite him with the tongue.'
Read Chapter 18 →Jeremiah 19:1-15
That Cannot Be Made Whole Again
The sign of the broken bottle at the valley of Hinnom, the judgment on a people who filled the place with 'the blood of innocents,' 'The valley of slaughter,' and the smashed vessel, 'Even so will I break this people and this city... that cannot be made whole again,' because 'they have hardened their necks.'
Read Chapter 19 →Jeremiah 20:1-18
His Word Was in Mine Heart as a Burning Fire
Pashur beats Jeremiah and puts him in the stocks; released, the prophet renames him 'Magor-missabib, Terror on every side,' then pours out his rawest confession, 'thou hast deceived me... his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones... and I could not stay,' rising to praise before cursing the day of his birth.
Read Chapter 20 →Jeremiah 21:1-14
The Way of Life, and the Way of Death
With Babylon besieging the city, Zedekiah hopes for a miracle, but God answers 'I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand,' turning His Exodus power against His own people, and yet offers mercy, 'Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death,' where life comes only by surrender.
Read Chapter 21 →Jeremiah 22:1-30
Was Not This to Know Me?
God's word to the kings of Judah: do 'judgment and righteousness' or the throne of David becomes 'a desolation,' woe on Jehoiakim who 'buildeth his house by unrighteousness,' the piercing test of Josiah's justice, 'was not this to know me?', and Coniah 'written childless,' his royal line reopened only in Christ's virgin birth.
Read Chapter 22 →Jeremiah 23:1-40
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Woe to the false shepherds, and the great promise of 'a righteous Branch' raised to David, 'a King shall reign and prosper,' whose name is 'THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,' the LORD Himself come in the flesh to save; then the lying prophets who cry 'Ye shall have peace,' and God's word 'like as a fire... and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces.'
Read Chapter 23 →Jeremiah 24:1-10
I Will Give Them an Heart to Know Me
The vision of two baskets of figs overturns human judgment: the exiles in Babylon are the good figs, sent there 'for their good,' whom God will bring home and to whom He promises 'I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD'; those who remained under Zedekiah are the evil figs, marked for the sword, famine, and pestilence.
Read Chapter 24 →Jeremiah 25:1-38
The Wine Cup of This Fury
Twenty-three years of unheeded preaching, the sentence of 'seventy years' under Babylon, whose king God calls 'my servant,' the wine cup of God's fury given to all the nations, and the LORD who 'shall roar from on high,' having 'a controversy with the nations,' the cup of wrath that Christ Himself drank to save His people.
Read Chapter 25 →Jeremiah 26:1-24
Diminish Not a Word
The story behind the temple sermon: God's charge to preach the whole message and 'diminish not a word,' Jeremiah's trial for his life when priests and prophets cry 'Thou shalt surely die,' his fearless defense, the precedent of Micah under Hezekiah, the martyrdom of Urijah, and the protecting hand of Ahikam.
Read Chapter 26 →Jeremiah 27:1-22
Bring Your Necks Under the Yoke, and Live
The sign of the yokes: the Creator who 'made the earth' has given the nations to Nebuchadnezzar 'my servant' for a time, so 'bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon... and live'; God pleads 'Why will ye die?', warns against prophets who 'prophesy a lie,' and promises to 'visit' and 'restore' the temple vessels.
Read Chapter 27 →Jeremiah 28:1-17
The LORD Hath Not Sent Thee
The false prophet Hananiah breaks Jeremiah's wooden yoke and promises Babylon's fall in two years; Jeremiah answers 'Amen: the LORD do so' yet lays down the test of a true prophet, God replaces the wooden yoke with a yoke of iron, and pronounces His verdict, 'The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie', and Hananiah dies within two months.
Read Chapter 28 →Jeremiah 29:1-32
I Know the Thoughts That I Think Toward You
Jeremiah's letter to the exiles: build houses, 'seek the peace of the city,' the seventy years, and the treasured promise 'I know the thoughts that I think toward you... thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end,' with 'ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart,' then judgment on the lying prophets who make the people 'trust in a lie.'
Read Chapter 29 →Jeremiah 30:1-24
I Will Restore Health Unto Thee
The Book of Consolation begins: 'the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it,' David their king, 'I am with thee... to save thee,' the incurable wound God Himself heals, 'I will restore health unto thee,' the King-Priest who alone dares 'approach unto me,' and the covenant renewed, 'ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.'
Read Chapter 30 →Jeremiah 31:1-40
I Will Make a New Covenant
The summit of the book: 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love,' Rachel weeping for her children, 'a woman shall compass a man,' and the great new covenant, 'I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts... I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,' sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
Read Chapter 31 →Jeremiah 32:1-44
Is There Any Thing Too Hard for Me?
Imprisoned during the siege, Jeremiah buys the field at Anathoth as a sign that 'houses and fields... shall be possessed again,' prays 'there is nothing too hard for thee,' and God answers 'I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?', promising an everlasting covenant, 'one heart, and one way,' and to 'rejoice over them to do them good.'
Read Chapter 32 →Jeremiah 33:1-26
Call Unto Me, and I Will Answer Thee
The Book of Consolation closes with grace: 'Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things,' the promise of 'health and cure,' cleansing and pardon, joy restored, the 'Branch of righteousness' whose name is 'The LORD our righteousness,' and a covenant as unbreakable as day and night.
Read Chapter 33 →Jeremiah 34:1-22
I Proclaim a Liberty for You
As Jerusalem falls, God tells Zedekiah he will 'die in peace'; then the people covenant to 'proclaim liberty' to their Hebrew slaves but take them back, and God turns their broken word against them, 'behold, I proclaim a liberty for you... to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine,' holding them to the covenant they walked through and betrayed.
Read Chapter 34 →Jeremiah 35:1-19
Will Ye Not Receive Instruction?
The faithful Rechabites refuse wine in the temple, keeping their forefather Jonadab's command for over two centuries; God holds up their obedience to rebuke disobedient Judah, 'Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words?', and blesses the faithful, 'Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.'
Read Chapter 35 →Jeremiah 36:1-32
The Word That Could Not Be Burned
Baruch writes and reads the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies; the princes tremble, but King Jehoiakim cuts it with a penknife and burns it, unafraid, unlike his father Josiah, and hunts the prophet, 'but the LORD hid them.' God simply has every word rewritten with many more added, the word of God that cannot be destroyed.
Read Chapter 36 →Jeremiah 37:1-21
Is There Any Word From the LORD?
The Egyptian advance briefly lifts the siege, but God warns 'Deceive not yourselves', the Chaldeans will return and burn the city; Jeremiah is seized as a deserter, beaten, and dungeoned, and King Zedekiah secretly asks 'Is there any word from the LORD?', wanting the word but unwilling to obey it.
Read Chapter 37 →Jeremiah 38:1-28
Obey, I Beseech Thee, the Voice of the LORD
The princes cast Jeremiah into a cistern of deep mire to die; Ebed-melech the Ethiopian eunuch boldly rescues him with cords and rags; and Zedekiah's final secret interview sets the choice, 'Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD... so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live,' which the fearful king cannot bring himself to take.
Read Chapter 38 →Jeremiah 39:1-18
Because Thou Hast Put Thy Trust in Me
Jerusalem falls: the wall is breached, Zedekiah is captured, sees his sons slain, and is blinded and taken to Babylon, and the city is burned, all exactly as prophesied; yet God frees and protects Jeremiah, and promises Ebed-melech, 'I will surely deliver thee... because thou hast put thy trust in me.'
Read Chapter 39 →Jeremiah 40:1-16
It Shall Be Well With You
Freed at Ramah by a Babylonian captain who confesses the LORD brought this judgment for sin, Jeremiah chooses to stay with the poor remnant under Gedaliah; the scattered return and the land yields richly, 'dwell in the land... and it shall be well with you,' but the trusting governor dismisses a warning of Ishmael's murderous plot.
Read Chapter 40 →Jeremiah 41:1-18
They Did Eat Bread Together
Ishmael shares a meal with Gedaliah and then murders him and his companions, lures in and slaughters eighty mourning pilgrims, and carries off the people of Mizpah; Johanan rescues the captives, but the remnant, afraid of Babylon, sets its face toward Egypt, the forbidden refuge.
Read Chapter 41 →Jeremiah 42:1-22
Whether It Be Good, or Whether It Be Evil
The remnant asks Jeremiah to pray and vows to obey 'whether good or evil'; after ten days God answers with grace, stay in the land, 'be not afraid of the king of Babylon... for I am with you to save you,' and warns that Egypt will not save; then Jeremiah exposes their insincerity, 'ye dissembled in your hearts.'
Read Chapter 42 →Jeremiah 43:1-13
Thou Speakest Falsely
The proud men reject God's answer as a lie, 'Thou speakest falsely,' blame Baruch, and carry the whole remnant, Jeremiah included, down to Egypt; there God has Jeremiah bury great stones at Pharaoh's door as a sign that Nebuchadnezzar 'my servant' will come, set his throne on that spot, and burn the gods of Egypt, no refuge from God's word.
Read Chapter 43 →Jeremiah 44:1-30
Whose Words Shall Stand — Mine, or Theirs?
Jeremiah's last recorded sermon confronts the Jews in Egypt over their idolatry; they defiantly refuse, 'we will not hearken,' vowing to worship the 'queen of heaven' and blaming their troubles on having stopped; God swears His word will stand, 'ye shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs,' sealed by the fall of Pharaoh-hophra.
Read Chapter 44 →Jeremiah 45:1-5
Seekest Thou Great Things for Thyself?
A tender personal word to Baruch the discouraged scribe, worn down and finding 'no rest': in a world God is tearing down, 'seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not,' yet with the promise that matters most in a day of ruin, 'thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.'
Read Chapter 45 →Jeremiah 46:1-28
Fear Not Thou, O Jacob My Servant
The oracles against the nations begin with Egypt: her proud army rises 'like a flood' but is shattered at Carchemish on 'the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance'; Babylon will invade Egypt and punish her gods; yet God comforts His own, 'Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant... for I am with thee,' making a full end of the nations but never of His people.
Read Chapter 46 →Jeremiah 47:1-7
O Thou Sword of the LORD
The oracle against the Philistines: an overflowing flood from the north sweeps down in terror on Gaza and Ashkelon, and the prophet cries to the invading army as 'the sword of the LORD,' 'how long will it be ere thou be quiet?', but it cannot rest, for 'the LORD hath given it a charge.'
Read Chapter 47 →Jeremiah 48:1-47
Settled on His Lees
The long oracle against proud Moab, 'settled on his lees,' who trusted in his works, treasures, and the god Chemosh and 'magnified himself against the LORD'; his cities fall and his horn is cut off, yet God Himself weeps, 'mine heart shall mourn... I will weep for thee,' and the oracle ends with mercy, 'yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days.'
Read Chapter 48 →Jeremiah 49:1-39
The Pride of Thine Heart Hath Deceived Thee
Oracles against Ammon (trusting her treasures), Edom ('the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee... though thou make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down'), Damascus the fading city of joy, the carefree tribes of Kedar and Hazor, and distant Elam, whose bow is broken, with mercy promised to Ammon and Elam 'in the latter days.'
Read Chapter 49 →Jeremiah 50:1-46
Their Redeemer Is Strong
The oracle against Babylon: her idols broken and 'the hammer of the whole earth' cut asunder for striving against the LORD; God's 'lost sheep' return weeping to join Him 'in a perpetual covenant,' their sin sought and 'there shall be none,' and their mighty defender declared, 'Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name.'
Read Chapter 50 →Jeremiah 51:1-64
The Portion of Jacob Is Not Like Them
The conclusion of the Babylon oracle: the golden cup that made the earth drunken is shattered, for 'the LORD hath brought forth our righteousness'; unlike the graven images that are 'vanity, and the work of errors,' 'the portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things.' God pleads His people's cause, calls them out of her midst, and the scroll of her doom is bound to a stone and cast into Euphrates: 'Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise.'
Read Chapter 51 →Jeremiah 52:1-34
Every Word Came to Pass
The historical appendix that seals the book: Jerusalem besieged, Zedekiah captured and blinded, the house of the LORD burned and its vessels carried to Babylon, and 'thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.' Not one word of Jeremiah's warning failed. Yet the book ends in mercy, Jehoiachin's head 'lifted up' from prison and seated at the king's table, keeping David's line alive to Christ.
Read Chapter 52 →