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55-594: The expression "isles of Kittim", found in the Book of Jeremiah 2:10 and Ezekiel 27:6, indicates that, some centuries prior to Josephus, this designation had already become a general descriptor for the Mediterranean islands. Sometimes this designation was further extended to apply to Romans, Macedonians or Seleucid Greeks. The Septuagint translates the occurrence of "Kittim" in the Book of Daniel 11:30 as Ῥωμαῖοι ("Romans"). 1 Maccabees 1:1 states that " Alexander

110-590: A Babylonian vassal (605 BC), Judah revolted but was subjugated again by Babylon (597 BC), and Judah revolted once more. This revolt was the final one: Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple and exiled its king and many of the leading citizens in 586 BC, ending Judah's existence as an independent or quasi-independent kingdom and inaugurating the Babylonian exile . The book can be conveniently divided into biographical, prose and poetic strands, each of which can be summarised separately. The biographical material

165-772: A child. "Ah" is rendered "Alas" in the Darby Translation and New International Version , and this Hebrew word in the opinion of biblical commentator A. W. Streane: "expresses not so much an entreaty that things should be arranged otherwise, as a lament that they are as they are". But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, Just as with Moses and Isaiah , Yahweh rejected any excuses and proceeded with His instruction: "for you will go," and Jeremiah has to say all what Yahweh commanded him. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith

220-594: A closely related version. The shorter version ultimately became canonical in Greek Orthodox churches, while the longer was adopted in Judaism and in Western Christian churches. It is generally agreed that the three types of material interspersed through the book – poetic, narrative, and biographical – come from different sources or circles. Authentic oracles of Jeremiah are probably to be found in

275-420: A form of communication in which a message was delivered by performing symbolic actions. Not unique to the book of Jeremiah, these were often bizarre and violated the cultural norms of the time. They served the purposes of both drawing an audience and causing that audience to ask questions, giving the prophet an opportunity to explain the meaning of the behavior. The recorder of the events in the written text (i.e.

330-833: A persecuted prophet owes a great deal to the account of Jeremiah's sufferings in chapters 37 –44 , as well as to the " Songs of the Suffering Servant " in Isaiah . Jeremiah 1 Jeremiah 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible . This book, one of the Nevi'im or Books of the Prophets , contains the prophecies attributed to

385-412: A remarkably introspective prophet, impetuous and often angered by the role into which he has been thrust, alternating efforts to warn the people with pleas to God for mercy, until he is ordered to "pray no more for this people." He does a number of prophetic symbolic acts, walking about in the streets with a yoke about his neck and engaging in other efforts to attract attention. He is taunted and retaliates,

440-631: A veiled reference to the Romans. Answers in Genesis identifies the Greek god Cronus with Javan's son Kittim, while others (including the Worldwide Church of God ) have suggested that Kittim became the progenitor of various eastern Asian peoples. Some authors have speculated that it comes from an Akkadian word meaning "invaders". Others (following Max Müller ) have identified Kittim with

495-625: Is clear from the last chapters of the book, however, that he continued to speak in Egypt after the assassination of Gedaliah , the Babylonian-appointed governor of Judah, in 582. This suggests that the superscription is trying to make a theological point about Jeremiah by comparing him to Moses – whereas Moses spent forty years leading Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, Jeremiah's forty years saw Israel exiled from

550-549: Is in the form of prose visions. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: The formula of this statement is reused in Jeremiah 2:1 . Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations. "I sanctified you": "I set you apart" ( Jeremiah 1:5 NIV ) – this was "a designation for the prophetic function rather an inward sanctification ". Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am

605-555: Is intended as a message to the Jews in exile in Babylon, explaining the disaster of exile as God's response to Israel's pagan worship: the people, says Jeremiah, are like an unfaithful wife and rebellious children, their infidelity and rebelliousness made judgment inevitable, although restoration and a new covenant are foreshadowed. Authentic oracles of Jeremiah are probably to be found in the poetic sections of chapters 1 through 25 , but

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660-501: Is occupied by Agnias, King of Carthage, but the Kittim end up appointing Zepho, son of Eliphaz and grandson of Esau , as their king, with the title Janus Saturnus . The first king of Rome, Romulus , is made in this account to be a distant successor of this line. A shorter, more garbled version of this story is also found in the later Sefer haYashar . Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah ( Hebrew : ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ )

715-470: Is poetic, referring to a blossoming almond tree. These verses contain a play on words using the Hebrew shaqed (almond) and shoqed (watching over). Thompson notes that in modern times Anathoth (modern village Anata) is still "a center for almond growing" and display memorable views of blooming almond trees in the early spring. "I see a pot that is boiling", I answered. "It is tilting toward us from

770-650: Is shorter than the Hebrew by about one eighth, and arranges the material differently. Equivalents of both versions were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls , so it is clear that the differences mark important stages in the transmission of the text. Most scholars hold that the Hebrew text underlying the Septuagint version is older than the Masoretic text, and that the Masoretic evolved either from this or from

825-572: Is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible , and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament . The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the book as "the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah". Of all the prophets, Jeremiah comes through most clearly as a person, ruminating to his scribe Baruch about his role as a servant of God with little good news for his audience. His book

880-526: Is thrown in jail as the result, and at one point is thrown into a pit to die. The Deuteronomists were a school or movement who edited the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings into a more or less unified history of Israel (the so-called Deuteronomistic History) during the Jewish exile in Babylon (6th century BCE). It is argued that the Deuteronomists played an important role in the production of

935-541: Is to be found in chapters 26 –29 , 32 , and 34 –44 , and focuses on the events leading up to and surrounding the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587 BCE; it provides precise dates for the prophet's activities beginning in 609 BCE. The non-biographical prose passages, such as the Temple sermon in chapter 7 and the covenant passage in 11:1–17 , are scattered throughout the book; they show clear affinities with

990-408: Is unclear whether Jeremiah thought that repentance could ward off judgement or whether it would have to follow judgement. The theme of restoration is strongest in chapter 31:32 , which looks to a future in which a New Covenant , made with Israel and Judah, will not be broken. This is the theme of the " New Covenant " passage at chapter 31:31–34 , drawing on Israel's past relationship with God through

1045-615: The Aleppo Codex . Jeremiah 1 is the First prophecy in the Prophecies of Destruction (Jeremiah 1– 25 ) section. {P}: open parashah ; {S}: closed parashah . The New King James Version (NKJV) organises this chapter as follows: J. A. Thompson organises the chapter as follows. The superscription (verses 1–3) gives the introduction to the whole book by stating authoritative claims for its content. For 40 years Jeremiah conveyed

1100-510: The Deuteronomists , the school of writers and editors who shaped the series of history books from Judges to Kings , and while it is unlikely they come directly from Jeremiah, they may well have their roots in traditions about what he said and did. The poetic material is found largely in chapters 1 –25 and consists of oracles in which the prophet speaks as God's messenger. These passages, dealing with Israel's unfaithfulness to God,

1155-1118: The Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint , made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus ( B ; G {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}} ; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus ( S ; BHK : G {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}} ; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus ( A ; G {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}} ; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus ( Q ; G {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}} ; 6th century). The parashah sections listed here are based on

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1210-538: The prophet Jeremiah . This chapter serves as an introduction to the Book of Jeremiah and relates Jeremiah's calling as a prophet. The original text of this chapter, as with the rest of the Book of Jeremiah , was written in Hebrew . Since the division of the Bible into chapters in the medieval period, this chapter is divided into 19 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of

1265-722: The Great the Macedonian" had come from the "land of Kittim". In the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness from the Dead Sea Scrolls , the Kittim are referred to as being "of Asshur ". Eleazar Sukenik argued that this reference to Asshur should be understood to refer to the Seleucid Empire which controlled the territory of the former Assyrian Empire at that time, but his son Yigael Yadin interpreted this phrase as

1320-697: The Kittim camped in Campania and built a city called "Posomanga", while descendants of Tubal camped in neighboring Tuscany and built " Sabino ", with the Tiber river as their frontier. However, they soon went to war following the rape of the Sabines by the Kittim, who are correlated to the Romans . This war was ended when the Kittim showed the descendants of Tubal their mutual progeny. They then built cities called Porto , Albano , and Aresah. Later, their territory

1375-408: The Lord". Septuagint version has "The word of God which came to Jeremiah" for "The words of Jeremiah". to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. "The 13th year of his reign": The prophetic career of Jeremiah started in about 627 BCE . An argument that this is the year of Jeremiah's birth cannot be reconciled with

1430-489: The Lord. Repeated again at the end of verse 19, closing this chapter: ... for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee. ( Jeremiah 1:19 ) Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. Yahweh commissioned Jeremiah to be His spokesperson by a "symbolic gesture of touching Jeremiah's mouth" (cf. Numbers 23:5 ; Deuteronomy 18:18 , Isaiah 6:7 ; Ezekiel 2:9–3:2 ). Verses 11–16 records

1485-464: The Persian period, did not reach their realisation until the 2nd century BCE. The Book of Jeremiah grew over a long period of time. The Greek stage, looking forward to the fall of Babylon and aligning in places with Second Isaiah , had already seen major redaction (editing) in terms of overall structure, the superscriptions (sentences identifying following passages as the words of God or of Jeremiah),

1540-467: The assignment of historical settings, and arrangement of material, and may have been completed by the late Exilic period (last half of the 6th century BCE); the initial stages of the Masoretic Hebrew version may have been written not long afterwards, although chapter 33:14–26 points to a setting in post-exilic times. According to its opening verses the book records the prophetic utterances of

1595-721: The author of the text) had neither the same audience nor, potentially, the same intent that Jeremiah had in performing these prophetic gestures. The following is a list – not exhaustive – of noteworthy sign-acts found in Jeremiah: The influence of Jeremiah during and after the Exile was considerable in some circles, and three additional books, the Book of Baruch , Lamentations , and the Letter of Jeremiah , were attributed to him in Second Temple Judaism (Judaism in

1650-490: The book as a whole has been heavily edited and added to by the prophet's followers (including, perhaps, his companion, the scribe Baruch) and later generations of Deuteronomists. It has come down in two distinct though related versions, one in Hebrew, the other known from the Septuagint Greek translation. The dates of the two (Greek and Hebrew) can be suggested by the fact that the Greek shows concerns typical of

1705-469: The book of Jeremiah; for example, there is clear Deuteronomistic language in chapter 25 , in which the prophet looks back over twenty-three years of unheeded prophecy. From the Deuteronomistic perspective the prophetic role implied, more than anything else, concern with law and covenant after the manner of Moses. On this reading Jeremiah was the last of a long line of prophets sent to warn Israel of

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1760-449: The call to repentance, and attacks on the religious and political establishment, are mostly undated and have no clear context, but it is widely accepted that they represent the teachings of Jeremiah and are the earliest stage of the book. Allied to them, and also probably a reflection of the authentic Jeremiah, are further poetic passages of a more personal nature, which have been called Jeremiah's confessions or spiritual diary. In these poems

1815-412: The consequences of infidelity to God; unlike the Deuteronomists, for whom the call for repentance was always central, Jeremiah seems at some point in his career to have decided that further intercession was pointless, and that Israel's fate was sealed. The book's superscription claims that Jeremiah was active for forty years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah (627 BCE) to the fall of Jerusalem in 587. It

1870-494: The covenant at Sinai to foresee a new future in which Israel will be obedient to God. Scholars from Heinrich Ewald onwards have identified several passages in Jeremiah which can be understood as "confessions": they occur in the first section of the book (chapters 1–25) and are generally identified as Jeremiah 11:18–12.6, 15:10–21, 17:14–18, 18:18–23, and 20:7–18. In these five passages, Jeremiah expresses his discontent with

1925-492: The day of his birth (Jeremiah 20:14–18 and Job 3:3–10). Likewise, Jeremiah's exclamation "For I hear the whispering of many: Terror is all around!" matches Psalm 31:13 exactly. However, Jeremiah's laments are made unique by his insistence that he has been called by Yahweh to deliver his messages. These laments "provide a unique look at the prophet's inner struggle with faith, persecution, and human suffering". Prophetic gestures, also known as sign-acts or symbolic actions, were

1980-403: The dialogue between Jeremiah, speaking in the first person, and Yahweh (the L ORD ), whose words are written as quoted statements. Jeremiah saw a visions of "a branch of an almond tree" (verses 11–12) and then a vision of "a boiling pot tilt away from the north" (verses 13–16). Yahweh, not Jeremiah, interprets both visions: the first one to assure the prophet (and the audience) of the certainty of

2035-473: The early Persian period, while the Masoretic (i.e., Hebrew) shows perspectives which, although known in the Persian period, did not reach their realisation until the 2nd century BCE. It is difficult to discern any structure in Jeremiah, probably because the book had such a long and complex composition history. It can be divided into roughly six sections: The background to Jeremiah is briefly described in

2090-495: The entrance of the gates of Jerusalem", was fulfilled as reported in Jeremiah 39:3 : "All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate". The verses 17–19 can be seen as connecting back to verses 4–10 or be a separate fragment where Yahweh gave a charge ( verse 17 ) and a promise ( verses 18–19 ) to Jeremiah in connection to the call. Speaking directly using imperatives Yahweh prepares Jeremiah for

2145-457: The expression "the word of the Lord came". This verse (as emphasizes further in Jeremiah 25:3 ) affirms that the conveyed words are not Jeremiah's own creation, but of supernatural origin, that is, from Yahweh. This time period was five years after Josiah , king of Judah, initiated the religious reformation (in his 8th year of reign, 632 BC) and five years before the finding of the Book of Law in his 18th year of reign in 622 BCE. Although Josiah

2200-657: The land and Jeremiah himself ultimately in exile in Egypt. Much of Jeremiah's prophetic preaching is based on the theme of the covenant between God and Israel (God would protect the people in return for their exclusive worship of him); Jeremiah insists that the covenant is conditional, and can be broken by Israel's apostasy (worship of gods other than Yahweh , the God of Israel). The people, says Jeremiah, are like an unfaithful wife and rebellious children: their infidelity and rebelliousness makes judgement inevitable. Interspersed with this are references to repentance and renewal, although it

2255-488: The land of Hatti (Khatti), as the Hittite Empire was known. Kittim (Hebrew: כִּתִּים, alternately transliterated as Chittim or Cethim ) in the genealogy of Genesis 10 in the Hebrew Bible , is the son of Javan , Genesis 10:4, the grandson of Japheth , and Noah 's great-grandson. The mediaeval rabbinic compilation Yosippon contains a detailed account of the Kittim. As the peoples spread out, it says,

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2310-417: The later Persian period , and his prophecy that the Babylonian exile would last 70 years was taken up and reapplied by the author of the Book of Daniel in the 2nd century BCE. The understanding of the early Christians that Jesus represented a " new covenant " is based on Jeremiah 31:31–34 , in which a future Israel will repent and give God the obedience he demands. The Gospel's portrayal of Jesus as

2365-435: The message he is to deliver, but also his steadfast commitment to the divine call despite the fact that he had not sought it out. Additionally, in several of these "confessions", Jeremiah prays that the Lord will take revenge on his persecutors (for example, Jeremiah 12:3 ). Jeremiah's "confessions" are a type of individual lament . Such laments are found elsewhere in the psalms and the Book of Job . Like Job, Jeremiah curses

2420-600: The north." Israel's enemy "always comes from the north": the Jerusalem Bible notes that Ezekiel 26 :7 and Joel 2:20 also express this point. "For behold, I am calling All the families of the kingdoms of the north," says the Lord; "They shall come and each one set his throne At the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, Against all its walls all around, And against all the cities of Judah." The medieval Jewish commentator Rashi considered that this prophecy, "They shall come and each one set his throne at

2475-722: The period between the building of the Second Temple in about 515 BCE and its destruction in 70 CE); in the Greek Septuagint they stand between Jeremiah and the Book of Ezekiel , but only Lamentations is included in modern Jewish or Protestant bibles (the Letter of Jeremiah appears in Catholic bibles as the sixth chapter of Baruch). Jeremiah is mentioned by name in Chronicles and the Book of Ezra , both dating from

2530-459: The poetic sections of chapters 1 – 25 , but the book as a whole has been heavily edited and added to by followers (including perhaps the prophet's companion, the scribe Baruch) and later generations of Deuteronomists. The date of the final versions of the book (Greek and Hebrew) can be suggested by the fact that the Greek shows concerns typical of the early Persian period, while the Masoretic (i.e., Hebrew) shows perspectives which, although known in

2585-400: The priest Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, "to whom the word of YHWH came in the days of king Josiah" and after. Jeremiah lived during a turbulent period, the final years of the kingdom of Judah, from the death of king Josiah (609 BCE) and the loss of independence that followed, through the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the exile of much its population (587/586). The book depicts

2640-441: The prophecies, and the second to point at "the foe from the north" which is revealed in Jeremiah 20:4–6 as Babylon . The word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree " Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it". "Branch" is alternatively translated as a "rod" of an almond tree ( KJV , ASV ). The meaning

2695-471: The prophet agonises over the apparent failure of his mission, is consumed by bitterness at those who oppose or ignore him, and accuses God of betraying him. Jeremiah exists in two versions: a Greek translation, called the Septuagint, dating from the last few centuries BCE and found in the earliest Christian manuscripts, and the Masoretic Hebrew text of traditional Jewish bibles. The Greek version

2750-502: The same time Sinsharishkun took the throne of Assyria, following the chaos after Ashurbanipal 's death, as the Assyrian Empire rapidly diminished. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. "The fifth month": The official ministry of Jeremiah ends at

2805-411: The superscription to the book: Jeremiah began his prophetic mission in the thirteenth year of king Josiah (about 627 BC) and continued after the eleventh year of king Zedekiah (586 BC), "when Jerusalem went into exile in the sixth month". During this period, Josiah instituted religious reforms, Babylon destroyed Assyria, Egypt briefly imposed vassal status on Judah , Babylon defeated Egypt and made Judah

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2860-411: The time of the deportation of the people from Jerusalem (July/August 587 BCE) in the early part of the 6th century BCE. The call account of Jeremiah certifies him to be a true prophet. Verses 4–10 contains the poetic audition in form of a dialogue between Jeremiah, speaking in the first person, and Yahweh (the L ORD ), whose words are written as quoted statements. The subsequent part (verses 11–19)

2915-545: The word of the Lord to the people, from the 13th year of king Josiah (627 BCE) until the deportation of the people from Jerusalem (587 BCE). The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: This verse is an "editorial introduction" which is reasonably comprehensive as it contains the prophet's "name, family, status and place of origin," and more complete than most books of prophets. According to Judges 21:17–18 , Anathoth

2970-518: Was 16 years old when he "began to seek after the God of David his father" ( 2 Chronicles 34:3 ), it was in his 12th year of reign (he was 20 years old; 629/628 BCE) when he began the repudiation of the "official Assyrian cult" with a "radical purge of all kinds of idolatrous practices both in Judah and in Northern Israel" (cf. 2 Chronicles 34:3–7 ), one year before Jeremiah was called and about

3025-410: Was one of the levitical or priestly cities located within the land of the tribe of Benjamin , about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem. The prophecies of Jeremiah and Amos ( Amos 1:1 ) are attributed to them individually in the opening words of the relevant biblical books, while in other cases, such as Hosea 1:1 , Joel 1:1 and Micah 1:1 , their prophecies are described from the outset as "the word of

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