Table of Contents
Part of the Old Testament
| Book | Summary | Interpretations |
|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah 1 | Jeremiah is called as a youth; the almond branch and the boiling pot. | |
| Jeremiah 2 | Israel has left the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns and other gods. | |
| Jeremiah 3 | Faithless Israel and treacherous Judah; a call to return. | |
| Jeremiah 4 | Disaster from the north; the earth is without form and void. | |
| Jeremiah 5 | No one in Jerusalem does justice; the people will serve strangers. | |
| Jeremiah 6 | Siege of Jerusalem; ask for the old paths. | |
| Jeremiah 7 | The Temple sermon; the Queen of Heaven; children burned at Tophet. | Which I commanded them not |
| Jeremiah 8 | Bones taken from graves; the harvest is past. | |
| Jeremiah 9 | Jeremiah weeps for his people; boast only in knowing the LORD. | |
| Jeremiah 10 | Idols are wood and silver; the gods who did not make the heavens shall perish. | |
| Jeremiah 11 | The broken covenant; the plot of the men of Anathoth. | |
| Jeremiah 12 | Jeremiah complains; the LORD will pluck up the nations. | |
| Jeremiah 13 | The ruined linen belt; the wine jars. | |
| Jeremiah 14 | Drought; false prophets promise peace. | |
| Jeremiah 15 | Not even Moses and Samuel could save them; Jeremiah's complaint. | |
| Jeremiah 16 | Jeremiah may not marry; the people will be scattered. | |
| Jeremiah 17 | Judah's sin is engraved; keep the Sabbath. | |
| Jeremiah 18 | The potter and the clay. | |
| Jeremiah 19 | The broken jar at Topheth; children burned for Baal. | |
| Jeremiah 20 | Pashhur puts Jeremiah in the stocks; fire in his bones. | |
| Jeremiah 21 | Answer to Zedekiah: the city will fall to Babylon. | |
| Jeremiah 22 | Words against the kings of Judah. | |
| Jeremiah 23 | The righteous Branch; against the lying prophets. | |
| Jeremiah 24 | Two baskets of figs. | |
| Jeremiah 25 | Seventy years of servitude to Babylon; the cup of wrath for the nations. | |
| Jeremiah 26 | Jeremiah is put on trial and spared. | |
| Jeremiah 27 | The yoke of Babylon. | |
| Jeremiah 28 | Hananiah breaks the yoke and dies. | |
| Jeremiah 29 | Letter to the exiles in Babylon. | |
| Jeremiah 30 | Restoration of Israel and Judah promised. | |
| Jeremiah 31 | The new covenant; Rachel weeping for her children. | |
| Jeremiah 32 | Jeremiah buys a field at Anathoth; Topheth again. | |
| Jeremiah 33 | Healing and the Branch of David promised. | |
| Jeremiah 34 | Zedekiah warned; slaves freed and taken back. | |
| Jeremiah 35 | The Rechabites keep their father's command. | |
| Jeremiah 36 | Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah's scroll. | |
| Jeremiah 37 | Jeremiah is arrested and put in a cell. | |
| Jeremiah 38 | Jeremiah in the cistern; Ebed-melech saves him. | |
| Jeremiah 39 | Jerusalem falls; Zedekiah is blinded. | |
| Jeremiah 40 | Gedaliah is made governor at Mizpah. | |
| Jeremiah 41 | Ishmael murders Gedaliah. | |
| Jeremiah 42 | The remnant asks for guidance; do not go to Egypt. | |
| Jeremiah 43 | They go to Egypt and take Jeremiah with them. | |
| Jeremiah 44 | The people in Egypt return to the Queen of Heaven. | The Queen of Heaven |
| Jeremiah 45 | A word to Baruch. | |
| Jeremiah 46 | Against Egypt. | |
| Jeremiah 47 | Against the Philistines. | |
| Jeremiah 48 | Against Moab and Chemosh. | Chemosh |
| Jeremiah 49 | Against Ammon and Milcom, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Elam. | |
| Jeremiah 50 | Against Babylon; Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken. | |
| Jeremiah 51 | Babylon's fall continued; the scroll is sunk in the Euphrates. | |
| Jeremiah 52 | Jerusalem's fall retold; Jehoiachin is released. |
Through the lens of many gods
Which I commanded them not (Jeremiah 7:31)
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Jeremiah 7:31 (KJV)
The usual explanation is that Israel copied its pagan neighbors.
Someone was asking for children. YHWH says it was not him. So another power did. I think of the voice on Moriah in Genesis 22. See Jeremiah 7 and Moloch.
The Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 44:17)
But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jeremiah 44:17 (KJV)
Sermons call this simple idolatry.
The people of Judah, the women most of all, answer the prophet back. They say life was good while they served the Queen of Heaven. For them she was a real goddess who kept them fed. I connect her with Asherah.
See also The Gods in the Bible.
