The Book of Jeremiah – Content Outline

 

Superscription (1:1-3)

 

•I.                   

The Call of Jeremiah and the Two Visions (1:4-19)

 

• a. The Call of Jeremiah (1:4-10)
• b. The Two Visions (1:11-16)
• c. The Divine Charge and Promise (1:17-19)

•II.                 

The Divine Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem (2:1-25:38)                          

 

• a. Israel’s Guilt and Punishment (2:1-6:30)
• A. Israel Indicted for Her Sins (2:1-37)
• i. The Faithfulness of Israel’s Youth: Her Ideal Status (2:1-3)
• ii. Israel’s Apostasy (2:4-13)
• iii. The Consequences of Israel’s Apostasy (2:14-19)
• iv. The Fascination and Futility of Baal Worship (2:20-28)
• v. Israel Deserves Judgment (2:29-37)
• B. A Plea For Israel’s Repentance (3:1-4:4)
• i. Apostate Israel and Faithless Judah (3:6-11)
• ii. Israel Summoned to Repent. Future Promises (3:12-18)
• iii. The Need for True Repentance (3:19-4:4)
• C. The Coming Judgment (4:5-6:30)
• i. The Alarm: Invasion is Threatened (4:5-10)
• ii. The Scorching Hot Wind of Judgment (4:11-18)
• iii. Jeremiah’s Anguished Cry (4:19-22)
• iv. A Vision and Oracle of the Coming Destruction (4:23-28)
• v. The Death Agony of Zion (4:29-31)
• vi. The Unpardonable Sin and Moral Agony of Jerusalem (5:1-9)
• vii. False Security in the Face of a Terrible Foe (5:10-19)
• viii. Yahweh Warns a Foolish, Rebellious, Complacent People (5:20-31)
• ix. Jerusalem Under Siege (6:1-8)
• x. Judgment Falls on a Corruptible People (6:9-15)
• xi. Elaborate Rituals are No Substitute for Obedience (6:16-21)
• xii. The Terrible Foe from the North (6:22-26)
• xiii. Jeremiah, The Assayer of His People (6:27-30)
• b. False Religion and It’s Punishment (7:1-10:25)
• A. The Temple Sermon and False Religion (7:1-8:3)
• i. The Temple Sermon (7:1-15)
• ii. The Cult of the Queen of Heaven (7:16-20)
• iii. Obedience Rather than Mere Sacrifice (7:21-28)
• iv. Sinful Deeds in the Valley of Hinnom (7:29-34)
• v. Astral Worship and It’s Awful Punishment (8:1-3)
• B. An Incorrigible People and Their Fate (8:4-10:25)
• i. Blindly Complacent and Heading Toward Ruin (8:4-12)
• ii. No Grapes on the Vine (8:13-17)
• iii. The Prophet’s Passionate Grief Over Jerusalem (8:18-23)
• iv. A Depraved People and Yahweh’s Judgment (9:1-8)
• v. Jerusalem’s Ruin (9:9-15)
• vi. Man’s Only Grounds for Boasting (9:22-23)
• vii. The Worthlessness of Circumcision (9:24-25)
• viii. A Satire on Idolatry; Yahweh and the Idols (10:1-16)
• ix. The Coming Exile: Lament and Intercession (10:17-25)
• c. Warnings and Judgment (11:1-15:9)
• A. The Broken Covenant and Warnings of Judgment (11:1-13:27)
• i. The Broken Covenant (11:1-17)
• ii. A Plot Against Jeremiah’s Life (11:18-26)
• iii. Yahweh Laments His Ravaged Inheritance (12:7-13)
• iv. Yahweh’s Conditional Promise of Death or Life for Israel’s Neighbors (12:14-17)
• v. The Linen Waistcloth: A Symbolic Act (13:1-11)
• vi. The Parable of the Wine Jars (13:12-14)
• vii. A Plea and Last Warning (13:15-17)
• viii. A Lament Over the King and Queen Mother (13:18-19)
• ix. Jerusalem’s Incurable Sickness and Punishment (13:20-27)
• B. Laments in a Time of Drought and National Defeat (14:1-15:9)
• i. Lament, Supplication, and Divine Response in a Time of Drought (14:1-16)
• ii. A Further Lament and Supplication in a Time of Defeat and Famine (14:17-15:4)
• iii. Jerusalem’s Terrible Fate (15:5-9)
• d. Confessions, Symbolic Acts, and Preaching (15:10-25:38)
• A. Some Personal Trials and Misc. Sayings (15:10-20:18)
• i. Jeremiah’s Inner Struggle and Yahweh’s Answer (15:10-14)
• ii. A Further Inner Struggle and the Divine Answer (15:15-21)
• iii. Jeremiah’s Life: A Mirror of His Message of Judgment (16:1-13)
• iv. A New Exodus (16:14-15)
• v. A Further Saying of Judgment (16:16-18)
• vi. The Conversion of the Nations (16:19-21)
• vii. Misc. Sayings (17:1-13)
• i. Judah’s Guilt that Cannot be Erased (17:1-4)
• ii. A Personal Affirmation: Trust in God Rather than Man (17:5-8)
• iii. God Knows the Heart and Rewards Justly (17:9-11)
• iv. Yahweh, The Hope of Israel (17:12-13)
• viii. Another Lament (17:14-18)
• ix. Keeping the Sabbath (17:19-27)
• x. The Parable of the Potter’s Vessel (18:1-12)
• xi. Israel’s Unnatural Behavior and It’s Consequences (18:13-17)
• xii. Jeremiah’s Reaction to a Plot Against His Life (18:18-23)
• xiii. The Symbolic Action of a Broken Jar (19:1-20:6)
• xiv. Jeremiah’s Inner Struggle about His Calling (20:7-13)
• xv. The Depths of Despair (20:14-18)
• B. Kings and False Prophets Denounced (21:1-23:40)
• i. Zedekiah’s Inquiry and Jeremiah’s Response (21:1-10)
• ii. The Duties of the King (21:11-12) and An Oracle Against Jerusalem (21:13-14)
• iii. The Duties of the King Continued (22:1-9)
• iv. Concerning Jehoahaz (Shallum) (22:10-12)
• v. Concerning Jehoiakim (22:13-19)
• vi. Jerusalem’s Doom (22:20-23)
• vii. Concerning Jehoiachin (Coniah) (22:24-30)
• viii. Promises for the Future of the Dynasty and the People (23:1-8)
• ix. Denunciation of the Prophets (23:9-40)
• i. A Land Full of Adulterers (23:9-12)
• ii. The Prophets as Leaders of National Apostasy (23:13-15)
• iii. False Prophets Speak an Unauthorized Word from Their Own Heart (23:16-22)
• iv. The Dream and God’s Word Contrasted (23:23-32)
• v. The Burden of Yahweh (23:33-40)
• C. Two Visions and a Summery (24:1-25:38)
• i. The Two Baskets of Figs (24:1-10)
• ii. A Concluding Summery (25:1-14)
• iii. Judgment on the Nations – Yahweh’s Cup of Wrath (25:15-29)
• iv. The Universal Judgment of Yahweh (25:30-38)

 

•III.              

Jeremiah’s Controversy with False Prophets (26:1-29:32)

 

• A. The Temple Sermon and It’s Consequences (26:1-4)
• B. Jeremiah and the False Prophets (27:1-29:32)
• a. Jeremiah Warns Against a Coalition Against Nebuchadnezzar (27:1-22)
• b. Jeremiah Against Hananiah: Prophecy Against Prophecy (28:1-17)
• c. Correspondence with the Exiles (29:1-32)

•IV.                The Book of Consolation (30:1-33:26)

• A. The Restoration of Israel and Judah (30:1-31:40)
• a. Superscription (Introduction) (30:1-3)
• b. Jacob’s Distress and Deliverance (30:4-11)
• c. The Healing of Zion’s Wounds (30:12-17)
• d. The Restoration of Jacob (30:18-22)
• e. The Divine Judgment: A Fragment (30:23-24; 31:1)
• f. Further Promises to Ephraim and Judah (31:2-6)
• g. Israel’s Homecoming (31:7-14)
• h. The End of Rachel’s Mourning (31:15-22)
• i. The Restoration of Judah (31:23-26)
• j. Two Short Sayings (31:27-30)
• k. The New Covenant (31:31-34)
• l. The Inseparable Bond Between Yahweh and Israel (31:35-37)
• m. The New Jerusalem (31:38-40)
• B. The Restoration of Judah and Jerusalem: A Prose Collection (32:1-33:26)
• a. Jeremiah’s Purchase of Land at Anathoth (32:1-15)
• b. Jeremiah’s Prayer (32:16-25)
• c. Yahweh’s Reply to Jeremiah (32:26-35)
• d. Yahweh’s Reply Continued (32:36-44)
• e. Jerusalem and Judah Restored (33:1-13)
• f. The Dynasty of David and the Levitical Priests (33:14-26)

 

•V.                 

Incidents from the Days of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (34:1-39:18)

 

• a. A Message to Zedekiah (34:1-7)
• b. Treachery Against Slaves (34:8-22)
• c. Jeremiah and the Rechabites (35:1-19)
• d. Jeremiah’s Scrolls (36:1-32)
• i. The Writing of the Scroll: Yahweh’s Word Recorded (36:1-8)
• ii. The Reading of the Scroll: Yahweh’s Word Heard (36:9-20)
• iii. Jehoiakim Destroys the Scroll: Yahweh’s Word Rejected (36:21-26)
• iv. The Scroll is Rewritten: Yahweh’s Word Preserved (36:27-32)
• e. Zedekiah Consults Jeremiah: First Account (37:1-10)
• f. Jeremiah’s Arrest and Imprisonment (37:11-21)
• g. Zedekiah Consults Jeremiah: Second Account (38:1-28a)
• i. Arrest and Imprisonment (38:1-6)
• ii. Jeremiah Rescued from the Miry Cistern (38:7-13)
• iii. Zedekiah’s Last Interview with Jeremiah (38:14-28a)
• h. The Fall of Jerusalem (39:1-10)
• i. Jeremiah’s Release: First Encounter (39:11-14)
• j. Hope for Ebed-melech (39:15-18)

 

•VI.               

Jeremiah’s Experiences After the Fall of Jerusalem (40:1-45:5)

 

• A. In Judah (40:1-43:7)
• a. Jeremiah’s Release: A Second Account (40:1-6)
• b. Gedalaih and the Community in Judah after 587 B.C. (40:7-12)
• c. The Assassination of Gedaliah (40:13-41:3)
• d. Further Atrocities (41:4-8)
• e. The Flight to Egypt: Jeremiah’s Warning Rejected (42:1-43:7)
• i. Jeremiah is Consulted (42:1-6)
• ii. Yahweh’s Answer to Jeremiah’s Prayer (42:7-22)
• iii. Jeremiah and the Community go to Egypt (43:1-7)
• B. In Egypt (43:8-45:5)
• a. Nebuchadnezzar’s Invasion of Egypt Foretold (43:8-13)
• b. Jeremiah’s Last Known Words (44:1-30)
• i. No Remorse for Sin and No Reverence for Yahweh (44:1-14)
• ii. Idolatry in Egypt (44:15-19)
• iii. Jeremiah’s Final Condemnation (44:20-30)

•c.        A Parenthesis: Baruch’s Despair and Consolation (45:1-5)

•VII.             Oracles Against the Nations (46:1-51:64)

• a. Egypt (46:1-28)
• i. The Defeat of Egypt at Carchemish (46:1-12)
• ii. Nebuchadnezzar’s Conquest of Egypt (46:13-24)
• iii. Two Fragments: Egypt Humiliated; Israel Delivered (46:25-28)
• b. The Philistines (47:1-7)
• c. Moab (48:1-47)
• i. The Destruction of Moab (48:1-10)
• ii. Moab’s Complacency Ended (48:11-17)
• iii. Catastrophe for Moab’s Cities (48:18-28)
• iv. A Lament over Moab (48:29-39)
• v. Moab’s Doom – A Final Mercy (48:40-47)
• d. Ammon (49:1-6)
• e. Edom (49:7-22)
• f. Damascus (49:23-27)
• g. Arab Tribes (49:28-33)
• h. Elam (49:34-39)
• i. Babylon (50:1-51:64)
• i. Babylon’s Fall and Israel’s Release (50:1-10)
• ii. Babylon’s Fall (50:11-16)
• iii. Israel’s Return (50:17-20)
• iv. God’s Judgment on Babylonia (50:21-40)
• v. The Agony of Babylon (50:41-46)
• vi. Again – The Judgment of Babylon (51:1-14)
• vii. A Hymn of Praise to God (51:15-19)
• viii. Yahweh’s Hammer and It’s End (51:20-26)
• ix. The Nations Ally Against Babylon (51:27-33)
• x. Judah’s Complaint Against Babylon and Yahweh’s Requital (51:34-40)
• xi. Babylon’s Fate (51:41-48)
• xii. Yahweh’s Message to the Exiles in Babylon (51:49-53)
• xiii. Babylon is Finally Repaid in Full (51:54-58)
• xiv. A Symbolic Action Against Babylon (51:59-64)

•VIII.          

Appendix – The Fall of Jerusalem (52:1-34)

 

• a. The Fall of the City and the Capture of Zedekiah (52:1-16)
• b. The Sacking of the Temple (52:17-23)
• c. The Numbers Reported to Babylon (52:24-30)
• d. The Release of Jehoiachin from Prison (52:31-34)