A thread through the maze of Jeremiah (Index Thread)

In the days when I was still a student atheist, I was intercepted at the gates of my college by an independent prophet who called himself “Individualist”. He had run off some leaflets on what we called a “duplicator” (printing through a typed stencil), and he wanted to give me a couple of copies. They were demonstrating out of Ezekiel (with maps) how the Russian army would be invading Israel in the following autumn. His proud claim was “The Foreign Office answered this!”, but he was wise enough not to tell me what they said.

I’m half convinced that Jeremiah must have spent some of his time handing out leaflets. Of course they had not invented the duplicator or even the typewriter, but he could have had a small army of volunteer copyists.

My reason for thinking so is that so much of his prophecy, especially the elaborate poetry, seems designed to be presented in writing. Of course there are big set-piece public prophecy scenes, like ch7 and ch19, and on those occasions the prophecy is in prose.

From time to time, I think, he would have been producing longer scrolls, collecting together a number of previous prophecies. Just as poets and short story writers produce anthologies of their own work. There are signs of this activity within the final collection which we have now. There was a passage in ch6 which looked like an “epilogue” for a possible collection of “Anathoth prophecies”, and a similar “epilogue” in ch17 which could apply to the previous chapters. In ch25, the Lord threatens to bring upon Babylon “all the words which I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations”, which looks like a reference to the chapters now found at the end of the book. In ch30, the Lord instructs Jeremiah to “write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you”, and the following chapters are a collection of “restoration” prophecies. And in ch36 there is the great scroll containing “all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations”, which is burnt by Jehoiakim and has to be written out again.

The original version of the full collection was probably based on this last one, with the Lord’s message to Baruch in ch45 serving as the tailpiece. But Jeremiah would have left other manuscript “remains” which would have to be added in. That would explain why the “dated” chapters are so annoyingly out of sequence, and it would explain why the Greek version of the full collection apparently contains less material than the Hebrew version. They were different editions of an accumulating collection.

Later editors would have kept the Baruch tailpiece, until somebody decided to add the “prophecies against the nations” collection at the end. In some ways this offers a more satisfactory ending. The downbeat picture of Jeremiah’s teaching getting lost in the swamps of Egypt is replaced by the picture of the fall of Babylon. But one further editor decides later that a simple repetition of the last chapter of 2 Kings would make an even better tailpiece.

In the circumstances, the best way of helping people through the maze of the final version of Jeremiah seems to be to offer a brief guide to the basic theme and approximate date of each thread.

The prophet’s calling

Ch1 vv1-10
Reign of Josiah
First book?

The prophet’s task

Ch1 vv11-19
Reign of Josiah
First book?

The keynote speech

Ch2 vv1-21
Includes a reference to the battle of Megiddo, when Josiah died
First book?

The wild ass in heat

From ch2 v22 to ch3 v5
Early
First book?

Not too late for the northerners

From ch3 v6 to ch3 v22
“In the days of King Josiah”
First book?
Relates mainly to the old kingdom of Israel, already taken into exile

The lion comes down on Jerusalem

From ch4 v5 to ch4 v31
Early, probably after Megiddo
First book?
The lion will be Nebuchadnezzar

Run through Jerusalem
Ch5 vv1-19
Early
First book?
Identifying the faults of the city

They do not know the Creator

Ch5 vv20-29
Early
First book?

Bad priests and prophets

From ch5 v30 to ch6 v15
Early
First book?

You need to look for the ancient paths

From ch6 vv6-30
Early
First book? I surmised that the next chapter marked a fresh start in Jerusalem, and that the end of ch6 was the “epilogue” of what might be called an “Anathoth collection”.

Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house

Ch7 vv1-20
Reign of Jehoiakim
This appears to mark the beginning of his mission in Jerusalem

Bad sacrifices

From ch7 v21 to ch8 v3
Reign of Jehoiakim

Even the stork knows when to come back

Ch8 vv4-17
Reign of Jehoiakim
The people need to return to their God

The summer is ended are we are not saved

From ch8 v18 to ch9 v11
Reign of Jehoiakim. In the autumn of the second year?

Glory only in the Lord

Ch9 vv12-26
Early reign of Jehoiakim?

The customs of the peoples are false

Ch10 vv1-16
A diatribe against idols

Gather up your bundle

Ch10 vv17-25
Warning of a judgmental siege
Late in the reign of Jehoiakim?

You broke the covenant

Ch11 vv1-17
The reign of Jehoiakim

The troubles of the prophet

From ch11 v18 to ch12 v6
The reign of Jehoiakim

The Lord’s grief

Ch12 vv7-17
The reign of Jehoiakim
A lament over the devastated land.

The waistcloth and the jars of wine

Ch13 vv1-12
The reign of Jehoiakim
The nation has been spoiled

The pride of Jerusalem

Ch13 vv15-27
The reign of Jehoiakim

The rejected prayer of Jerusalem

Ch14 vv1-10
The reign of Jehoiakim
This relates to the great drought.

Let the prophets not pray for Jerusalem

From ch14 v11 to ch15 v9
The reign of Jehoiakim
Their prayers will be wasted, because judgment is coming

The man in the middle
Ch15 vv10-21
The reign of Jehoiakim
Jeremiah needs to be encouraged

No wife from this place

Ch16
The reign of Jehoiakim
The community in this land has no future

Written with a pen of iron

Ch17 vv1-18
The reign of Jehoiakim
Possibly the ending of another book, since a long prose narrative about Jeremiah’s relationship with kings and priests begins in the next verse.

No burdens on the sabbath

Ch17 vv19-27
The reign of Jehoiakim

The potter story

Ch18
The reign of Jehoiakim
The pot is spoiled and needs to be reworked from the beginning

Jeremiah meets the Image of Jealousy

From ch19 v1 to ch20 v6
The reign of Jehoiakim
Jeremiah is placed in the stocks by the priest Pashhur son of Immer

Jeremiah complains about his calling

Ch20 vv7-18
The reign of Jehoiakim

Advice to kings (part1)

Ch21
Around the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, when he had just rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar

Advice to kings (part 2)

Ch22 vv1-12
Miscellaneous

Jehoiakim the unrighteous

Ch22 vv13-23
The reign of Jehoiakim

Useless Coniah

Ch22 vv24-30
At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah
About his exiled predecessor

Bad prophets

Ch23 vv1-22

Dreams and burdens

Ch23 vv23-40
The irritating jargon of the professional prophets

The baskets of figs

Ch24
At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah
Comparing the first exiles in Babylon with the community left in Jerusalem

Exile for seventy years

Ch25 vv1-14
“In the fourth year of Jehoiakim”
Relating to what Babylon will do and the aftermath
V13 appears to refer to the book of “prophesies against the nations”, which begins at ch46

The cup of the wine of wrath

Ch25 vv15-38
The fourth year of Jehoiakim
Continuing the Babylon theme

The instant trial

Ch26
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim”. Probably in the first three years, anyway

The yoke for all nations

Ch27 vv1-15
“In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah”, in the fourth year
Everyone must submit to Babylon

The lost sacred vessels

From 27 v16 to ch28 v17
In the fourth year of Zedekiah
They will not come back from Babylon

Letter to the Babylonian Jews

Ch29 vv1-14
In the reign of Zedekiah

Bad prophets in Babylon

Ch29 vv15-32
In the reign of Zedekiah

My servant Jacob

Ch30 vv1-17
In the reign of Zedekiah
“Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.” This appears to begin a collection of “restoration” prophecies, which can be found over the next few chapters.

Restoring the tents of Jacob

From ch30 v18 to ch31 v1
In the reign of Zedekiah
Part of the “restoration” collection

Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob

Ch31 vv2-14
In the reign of Zedekiah
More specifically about the restoration of the old northern kingdom

Rachel weeps

Ch31 vv15-22
In the reign of Zedekiah
More specifically about the restoration of the old northern kingdom


The new covenant

Ch31 vv23-40
In the reign of Zedekiah
Part of the “restoration” collection

He bought a field

Ch32 vv1-15
“In the tenth year of Zedekiah”

Jeremiah asks God to explain himself

Ch32 vv16-44
Still in the tenth year of Zedekiah

Hope for the land

Ch33 vv1-13
In the tenth year of Zedekiah

Hope for the house of David

From ch33 v14 to ch34 v5
In the tenth year of Zedekiah

You must free your slaves

Ch34 vv6-22
In the tenth year of Zedekiah

The Rechabites

Ch35
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim?

The stubborn king

Ch36
“In the fifth year of Jehoiakim”

The false arrest

Ch37
In the tenth year of Zedekiah

Jeremiah left to die

Ch38 vv1-13
In the tenth year of Zedekiah

The last royal interview

Ch38 vv14-28
In the tenth year of Zedekiah

Picking up the pieces

Ch39 and ch40
After the Fall of Jerusalem

The murder of Gedaliah

Ch41
After the Fall of Jerusalem

The big question

Ch42 and ch43 vv1-7
After the Fall of Jerusalem

Jeremiah in Egypt

Ch43 vv8-13 and ch44 vv1-14
After the Fall of Jerusalem

The Queen of heaven

Ch44 vv15-30
After the Fall of Jerusalem

A message for Baruch

Ch45
Fourth year of Jehoiakim

Jeremiah against the nations; Egypt

Ch46

Jeremiah against the nations; Philistia

Ch47

Jeremiah against the nations; Moab

Ch48

Jeremiah against the nations; The eastern lands

Ch49

Jeremiah against the nations; Babylon1

Ch50

Jeremiah against the nations; The end of Babylon

Ch51

This is unusual. I think I managed to avoid any mistakes in this one.

a reply to: redchad
I've just received an Applause for writing it. I prefer their judgement to yours.

originally posted by: redchad
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For some of the Christians here, Disraeli's threads are quite valuable. He puts them in the proper forum and doesn't force anyone to click on it, so do like the rest of us heathens and scroll past it if it isn't a topic you're interested in.