Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Purpose
  Jeremiah's purpose was to call his hearers to repentance in view of God's judgment on Judah, which would come soon from an army from the north (chs. 2-45). Judgment was coming because God's people had forsaken Yahweh and had ...
• Outline
  I. Introduction ch. 1A. The introduction of Jeremiah 1:1-3B. The call of Jeremiah 1:4-191. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-102. Two confirming visions 1:11-19II. Prophecies about Judah chs. 2-45A. Warnings of judgment on...
• 1. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-10
  1:4 The prophet now began speaking to his readers and telling them what the Lord had said to him. Throughout this book, an indication that the Lord had told Jeremiah something is often the sign of a new pericope, as here (cf....
• A. Warnings of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem chs. 2-25
  Chapters 2-25 contain warnings and appeals to the Judahites in view of their sins and the consequences of those sins.
• An attempt to kill Jeremiah 11:18-12:6
  This pericope contains one of Jeremiah's "confessions,"a self-revelation of the prophet's own struggles to cope with God's actions (cf. 10:23-24; 15:10-12, 15-21; 17:9-11, 14-18; 18:18-23; and 20:7-18).219The heart of this on...
• A collection of Jeremiah's personal trials and sayings 15:10-20:38
  This section of text is highly autobiographical. It contains, among other things, most of Jeremiah's so-called "confessions"(15:10-12, 15-21; 17:9-11, 14-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-18). This section can be a great help and encouragem...
• The prophet's inner struggles and Yahweh's responses 15:10-21
  This pericope contains two instances in which Jeremiah faced crushing discouragement in his ministry (vv. 10-14, 15-21). He confessed his frustration to the Lord, and the Lord responded with encouragement.15:10 Jeremiah addre...
• Judah's indelible sin and sin's deceitfulness 17:1-18
  The next five sections (vv. 1-4, 5-8, 9-11, 12-13, and 14-18) continue the theme of Judah's guilt from the previous chapter. These pericopes have obvious connections with one another, but they were evidently originally separa...
• Israel's unnatural behavior and its consequences 18:13-17
  In this message Jeremiah contrasted the unnatural apostasy of the people with the constancy of nature (cf. 2:10-13).18:13 Yahweh indicted the people of Judah through His prophet asking if any other nation had ever done what I...
• A collection of Jeremiah's denunciations of Judah's kings and false prophets chs. 21-23
  This section of the book contains some of Jeremiah's messages concerning Judah's kings (21:1-23:8) and false prophets (23:9-40) that he delivered closer to the time of Jerusalem's invasion than the previous chapters.300Beginn...
• Universal judgment to come 25:30-38
  25:30 Jeremiah was also to announce that God would prepare to judge all the inhabitants of the earth (v. 29). As a lion announces its intent to attack with a roar, so Yahweh would one day announce His attack on earth dwellers...
• B. Controversies concerning false prophets chs. 26-29
  These chapters contrast the true prophet of Yahweh with the false prophets. Distinguishing between them was difficult for Jeremiah's contemporaries, but their essential difference is clear. The true prophets proclaimed the Lo...
• Jeremiah's purchase of land 32:1-15
  This was another of Jeremiah's symbolic acts (cf. 16:1-4; 18:1-12; 19:1-2, 10-11; 27:1-28:17; 43:8-13; 51:59-64).32:1 A message came to the prophet from the Lord about 587 B.C., the year before Jerusalem fell.32:2 Jerusalem w...
• D. Incidents surrounding the fall of Jerusalem chs. 34-45
  The Book of Consolation contained messages of future hope for Judah (chs. 30-33). Now Jeremiah returned to document her present judgment. Chapters 34-45 continue the theme of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem from chapters 2-29...
• Baruch's despair and consolation ch. 45
  This chapter belongs after chapter 36 chronologically, either after 36:8 or 36:32. It serves as an appendix to the historical incidents recorded there. Perhaps the writer or final editor placed it here to show that Yahweh exe...
• Bibliography
  Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers; and New York: Macmillan Publishers Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. Revis...