Bible Reading Plan

Author: Jon Green

Jeremiah 37
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Jeremiah in Prison
37 Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim.²Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attentionto the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
³King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
⁴Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. ⁵Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. ⁸Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’
⁹“This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! ¹⁰Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”
¹¹After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, ¹²Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. ¹³But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
¹⁴“That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beatenand imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.
¹⁶Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. ¹⁷Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.”
¹⁸Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? ²⁰But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”
²¹King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Go Deeper

Jeremiah 37 begins with Zedekiah enthroned as Nebuchadnezzar’s puppet king. Zedekiah asks by messenger for Jeremiah to pray for Judah, an interesting move from a king who does not keep the commandments and ways of the Lord.
In Judah, the fear of war intensifies. Zedekiah has, in his desperation, arranged for the king of Egypt to send his army to their aid, betraying Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon’s army, the Chaldeans, have discovered this and now retreat from Judah to fight this new threat. The temporary reprieve seems like deliverance. Zedekiah believes his political moves have saved his nation.
Meanwhile, God tells Jeremiah that this retreat is temporary. The king of Egypt will retreat, and Babylon will return to crush Judah. Taking advantage of temporary safe passage, Jeremiah sets out to acquire the field he had purchased at God’s command in chapter 32 as an assurance of future hope. On his way to acquire his field, Jeremiah is captured and assumed to be a deserter. For this crime, he is imprisoned.
Days later, Zedekiah brings Jeremiah out of prison, to his house, and questions him secretly. This powerful figure questioning the man of God in secret is a shadow of Nicodemus, the powerful and influential rabbi, questioning Jesus by night, fearing what people thought. Zedekiah asks Jeremiah if there is any word from God. Coming right after he thinks he’s solved everything, this seems like a prideful ask. Has God changed his mind now that Zedekiah has taken matters into his own hands? No, Israel will still fall. The Lord is steadfast.
Jeremiah has a follow-up question. Why is he suffering for the truth while false prophets go free? Jeremiah stumbles on this question often—he asks a similar one in chapter 12. Why do the righteous suffer? His frustration with God is relatable, but Jesus has an answer in John 16:33. There is suffering, even for the faithful, while sin is still in the world, but for the glory of God, which will be revealed and understood when He returns.
Jeremiah pleads with Zedekiah to have mercy on him, and Zedekiah obliges with a measure of grace. He allows Jeremiah to be imprisoned in the court of the guard rather than at the mercy of who he’d been imprisoned by prior to this. What’s more, Jeremiah receives daily bread until the city starves during the siege.

Questions

Jeremiah is on his way to acquire property the Lord asked him to purchase, yet he is captured and imprisoned instead to deliver the Lord’s word to the king. What does this tell you about God’s timing?
Jeremiah is preoccupied with his own suffering while false prophets suffer. How do you feel about your own suffering?
Read 1 Peter 4:12-19. How would you counsel Jeremiah in his frustration about his suffering?

By the Way

Jeremiah also wrote Lamentations, an account of his personal grief and weeping during the fall of Judah. Lamentations 3:25-29 speak to the goodness of waiting on the Lord in siege and suffering:
“25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.”

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April 16, 2024
Jeremiah 36
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Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll
36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Take a scroll and write on it all the wordsI have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. ³Perhapswhen the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
⁴So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.⁵Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. ⁶So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. ⁷Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.”
⁸Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. ⁹In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. ¹⁰From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.
¹¹When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, ¹²he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. ¹³After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll,¹⁴all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. ¹⁵They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”
So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” ¹⁷Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”
¹⁸“Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”
¹⁹Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
²⁰After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. ²¹The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him.²²It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment,with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. ²³Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.²⁴The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear,nor did they tear their clothes. ²⁵Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.²⁶Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
²⁷After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:²⁸“Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. ²⁹Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?” ³⁰Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. ³¹I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’”
³²So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Go Deeper

As we read in Jeremiah 36, King Jehoiakim didn’t like the message that was being communicated by Jeremiah (given to him by God). After God told Jeremiah to write this message down on a scroll (v. 1-8), Jeremiah enlisted Baruch to write these words on the scroll as Jeremiah dictated them. At the time, writing was a specialized skill and not everyone was capable of doing so, but Baruch did just what Jeremiah asked him to do (v. 8) and eventually even read the words aloud in the temple, calling for Judah to repent.
As the scroll was read first to the people in the temple court, then the royal officials, then ultimately King Jehoiakim, the reaction was…interesting. King Jehoiakim cut off parts of the scroll one at a time “until the entire scroll was burned in the fire” (v. 23). The text tells us that they weren’t fearful and they didn’t tear their clothes (a sign of mourning or despair). We can infer that they simply didn’t want to hear the message God wanted them to hear.
The passage ends with God giving another set of instructions to Jeremiah: write it all down again. So Jeremiah enlisted Baruch to help him once again as he spoke the words from God once again. God also promised a judgment on King Jehoiakim because of his actions. Nebuchadnezzar would come from Babylon and destroy Judah, just as God had told Jeremiah would happen.
Reading this chapter should stir up a deep appreciation for the unending and enduring power of God’s Word. This story is such a great reminder to us of how the Holy Spirit has preserved these words in these 66 books written by 40 different authors. Even when people (Jehoiakim, in this instance) try to extinguish the word of God, God finds a way to keep it in front of His people. Praise God that we benefit from His Word today.

Questions

What stuck out to you on your first read through this chapter? Why?
What do you know about King Jehoiakim up to this point? Where else has he been referenced in the Old Testament?
Do you find yourself taking God’s Word for granted? How can you develop a new appreciation for it today?

Did You Know?

Pastor David Guzik in his Enduring Word commentary had this note on other notable attempt to destroy the Bible:
“In AD 300, the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered every Bible burned and they destroyed thousands of Bibles, even just portions of Bibles. A Christian could be killed for just having a Bible. Yet it didn’t work. The next Roman emperor ordered 50 brand new complete Bibles to be made at government expense.”

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April 15, 2024
Jeremiah 35
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The Rekabites
35 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: ²“Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.”
³So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites. ⁴I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. ⁵Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”
⁶But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadabson of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. ⁷Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’ ⁸We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine ⁹or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. ¹⁰We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. ¹¹But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonianand Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”
¹²Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: ¹³“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the Lord. ¹⁴‘Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. ¹⁵Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me. ¹⁶The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefathergave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’
¹⁷“Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’”
¹⁸Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what the LordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ ¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’”

Go Deeper

In Jeremiah 35 God uses a very simple test to show the people of Judah and us what obedience looks like. Unfortunately for the people in Jerusalem, by God using the Rekabite Family as an example of what we should do, it also showed the disobedience of God’s people. Jeremiah is given the task of testing the Rekabite family by inviting them to a room in the temple and setting out bowls of wine and cups. The assumption might be that the family will sit down with Jeremiah and have some fellowship while drinking some wine. However, what God is doing is showing His people what obedience and trust looks like.
For many years God has been sending prophets to tell His people to stop running to other gods and trust the God that led you from bondage. Stop conforming to those around you and simply obey the commands that I, the Lord your God has given you. We see all of this plainly in verses 6-11. After Jeremiah tells the family to “Drink some wine” in verse 5. Notice that Jeremiah does not say anything such as The Lord commands you to drink some wine. He simply gives them the opportunity to conform to his request to drink some wine. Then in verses 6-11 we get to see what obedience looks like.
The Rekabites tell Jeremiah that their forefathers gave them a command to never drink wine and to live as nomads. They were to never settle down and build a house, but to live with what God provides them. What a great example to us to trust God enough to obey Him completely. This is totally opposite of what the people of Judah have done for years. They have taken every opportunity to run from God and to trust in the false gods of the land. God is giving them an example of what He wants from His people and yet for years they have turned their back on God.
As the rest of the chapter unfolds, God gives us the opportunity to see two very different actions that led to two very different outcomes. The obedient Rekabites are blessed in the land and God provides for their every need. Meanwhile, the disobedient people of Judah are awaiting the coming judgment of God. God is again pleading with His people. It’s as if He’s saying, “Please follow the example that I have set before you and I will again forgive you and take care of you. Simply trust and obey me, just like your forefathers did.” Is God pleading for your heart and trust just like the people of Judah?

Questions

How can we apply the lessons of obedience to our life?
How can we use this story to help us to completely obey God’s commands?
How can we use the story in the ever changing world we live in today?

Did You Know?

The famous hymn “Trust and Obey” was written in 1886 after composer Daniel Towner heard a young man stand up at a Dwight L. Moody revival meeting and proclaim “ I am not quite sure–but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey”

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April 13, 2024
Jeremiah 34
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Warning to Zedekiah
34 While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go to Zedekiahking of Judah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. ³You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and given into his hands. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.
⁴“‘Yet hear the Lord’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword; ⁵you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fire in honor of your predecessors, the kings who ruled before you, so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, “Alas, master!” I myself make this promise, declares the Lord.’”
⁶Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, ⁷while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachishand Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
Freedom for Slaves
⁸The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves.⁹Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage. ¹⁰So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. ¹¹But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
¹²Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said, ¹⁴‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’ Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me.¹⁵Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name. ¹⁶But now you have turned aroundand profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.
¹⁷“Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. ¹⁹The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, ²⁰I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.
²¹“I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon,which has withdrawn from you. ²²I am going to give the order, declares the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”

Go Deeper

Today’s passage is a reminder of the benevolence of our good Father, the power of grace, and the charge we’ve been given in our journey of sanctification.
Starting in verse four, even amidst God‘s condemnation of Zedekiah, He shows His obvious desire to bless him. Through this we can see that He is not a jealous God that loves to punish, but rather a God that has a righteous anger, desiring so much more for us than for us to dwell in disobedience and sin. We can see the immediate positive impact that this had on Zedekiah by seeing how he responded to God‘s grace by extending it to others by his covenant of proclaiming the overdue freedom for slaves in verse 8. As we see stated later in the passage, this should’ve been occurring on a scheduled basis already, but had failed to be ever enacted.
This decree was upheld at first by the people of Judah, but unfortunately, they returned to their ways, seeking out comfort and old patterns. We also do the same thing when God has called us to do something outside our comfort zone. Just like a good parent, our patient and benevolent God chose to punish in this situation, in order for His children to grow from their choices. Although the punishment was daunting, you can see the act of love behind it, just as in the case of his message to Zedekiah earlier in this chapter.
Also, with these last actions of the people of Judah, we can see a strong message of what we are called to do as followers of Christ. We are called to be steadfast in our spiritual journey including obedience. When God tells us to change, He doesn’t want us looking back. It is a continual long-term process with a permanent result. Sometimes when we are not careful, we may lose ground in trying to be obedient. However, spiritual disciplines such as praying, reading/memorizing scripture, gathering with believers, and others can help us maintain the course!
It should be a wonderful comfort to us that our God is a God of promises, who holds Himself accountable to His own promises more than he holds us to our promises. Throughout scripture, he continues to uphold his side of the bargain, while being continuously patient with our failures to remain obedient.

Questions

How could you better share God’s grace to those around you?
How has God blessed your life despite your disobedience?
What aspect of God’s character stirs your affection for Him?

By the Way

We discover Zedekiah’s fate in another book of the Bible. Read what it says in 2 Kings 25:7:
“Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.”

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April 12, 2024
Jeremiah 33
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Promise of Restoration
33 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: ²“This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ³‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ ⁴For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword⁵in the fight with the Babylonians: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.
⁶“‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. ⁷I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. ⁸I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. ⁹Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’
¹⁰“This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more ¹¹the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offeringsto the house of the Lord, saying,
“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty,
    for the Lord is good;
    his love endures forever.”
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.
¹²“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without people or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. ¹³In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the handof the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.
¹⁴“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
¹⁵“‘In those days and at that time
    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
    he will do what is just and right in the land.
¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved
    and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
¹⁷For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, ¹⁸nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”
¹⁹The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰“This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, ²¹then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. ²²I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’”
²³The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴“Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two kingdoms he chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation.²⁵This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, ²⁶then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”

Go Deeper

The book of Jeremiah can be outlined as judgment (ch. 1-29), hope (ch. 30-33), and more judgment (ch. 34-52). This chapter promises hope for Israel’s restoration and a reminder of God’s covenant with David. The chapter begins with Jeremiah in prison. King Zedekiah put him in the royal prison for preaching in God’s name that the Babylonians would succeed. The word of the Lord came to him with a message to the people of Israel. The Lord says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (v. 3). Corrie ten Boom, a well-known Christian during World War II, called this verse “God’s phone number.” This is an invitation from God to call out to Him and He will answer us and reveal Himself to us. The God of the universe desires to speak to us, and to tell us great things that we do not know.
Israel’s future restoration is detailed in Jeremiah 33. The Lord will bring health and healing to both the people and the land. The Lord will restore and rebuild Israel as it was in former times. The Lord will purify them and forgive them of all their iniquities. The city would be filled with His people singing “His faithful love endures forever” (v. 11). God says, “This city will bear on my behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the prosperity I will give them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace I will bring about for them” (v. 9) The nations, through seeing the goodness God has for His people, will come to know Him, and worship Him.
We learn a lot about the character of God in this chapter. He is Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. He is the God who rebuilds and restores all that’s broken. He brings beauty from ashes and turns sorrow to gladness. He purifies sins and remembers them no longer. He is the God who listens. He hears our prayers, and He answers them. He is the Creator God who wants His creation to intimately know Him. His greatest desire is His glory to be made known amongst all nations of the earth.
There is also a reminder of God’s Covenant with David. In 2 Samuel 7, God says he will build David a house, or a lasting dynasty through which the Messiah will come, an eternal kingdom to come through His lineage, and a throne to which will have ultimate authority. The Lord declares that He will fulfill the good promise that He had spoken to Israel. He says, “In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land” (v. 15). The “Righteous Branch” is depicted as a king, and points to King Jesus, who would one day administer justice and righteousness in the land. This is a Messianic prophecy, pointing to Christ! This is a glimmer of hope for the people of Israel, that through the line of David would come a king who will bring forth ultimate salvation on the cross.

Questions

Jeremiah 33:3 invites us to call out to God and promises that He will answer us and reveal to us things we do not know. How are you responding to this call? Why is daily prayer important?
What characteristics of God stand out to you in this chapter?
What is the significance of God’s covenant with David? How does this section point to Jesus, the “Righteous Branch?”

Listen Here

Listen to the song “Ruins” by Mav City Music as you reflect on this chapter.

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April 11, 2024
Jeremiah 32
Read Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah Buys a Field
32 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²The army of the king of Babylon was then besiegingJerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.
³Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.⁴Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babylonians but will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes. ⁵He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’”
⁶Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’
⁸“Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’
“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; ⁹so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy— ¹²and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.
¹³“In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: ¹⁴‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. ¹⁵For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’
¹⁶“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:
¹⁷“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, ¹⁹great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve. ²⁰You performed signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. ²¹You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.²²You gave them this land you had sworn to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster on them.
²⁴“See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see. ²⁵And though the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians, you, Sovereign Lord, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.’”
²⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore this is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it. ²⁹The Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down, along with the houses where the people aroused my anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.
³⁰“The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger with what their hands have made, declares the Lord. ³¹From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight. ³²The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials,their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. ³³They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.³⁴They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiledit. ³⁵They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.
³⁶“You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ³⁷I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. ³⁸They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. ⁴⁰I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. ⁴¹I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.
⁴²“This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.⁴³Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without people or animals, for it has been given into the hands of the Babylonians.’ ⁴⁴Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

Go Deeper

This chapter takes place during the reign of Zedekiah (2 Kings 25) amid Babylon taking Judah captive and Jerusalem falling to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah, sitting in prison for speaking the truth that God had given him, received word that his cousin was coming to sell him the field and Jeremiah bought that field and had the deed signed, sealed, and delivered to many witnesses where it was put into a vessel for safe keeping. This was God telling Jeremiah and the exiles that even though Judah was falling to Babylon, there was still hope. The Lord says, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (v. 15).
In this chapter, we see Jeremiah prays for understanding. Derek Kidner (a British Old Testament scholar) in his commentary says this of Jeremiah’s prayer in this chapter:
“It is a fine example of the way to pray in a desperate situation: concentrating first on the creative power (v. 17) and perfect fidelity and justice (v. 18-19) of God; remembering next his great redemptive acts (v. 20-23a; to which the Christian can now add the greatest of them all)—and then with this background, laying before God the guilt of the past (v. 23b), the hard facts of the present (v. 24) and the riddle of the future (v. 25).”
He recounts the story of redemptive history up until that point. He reminds himself and us today that God delivered the people from slavery in Egypt and gave them the land flowing with milk and honey. The people didn’t worship the Lord and willfully neglected His laws and disobeyed His voice. He lays before God the situation they are now facing and then brings in the question of what will happen next.
How often do we forget that God has freed us from slavery to sin–that He rescued us from the depravity of our world and decisions and now we can walk in the newness of life with Him? Oftentimes we forget these truths and walk in disobedience to God. We forget that He has an inheritance for us in the kingdom, so we try to build our own here.
Let’s remind ourselves that the God who delivered Israel from slavery to Egypt rescued us from slavery to sin. That Christ came into the world to save sinners and destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). That whatever confusion we are facing today we can bring before the Father, whether we are full of faith or full of doubt and He will give us rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28).

Questions

Remind yourself the truths of God that He rescued you by the blood of Christ from sin (Romans 6:23).
In what ways are you walking in disobedience to God like the people of Judah? Ask your Life Group to point out anything they may see in you that doesn’t live up to the glory of God.
What confusion or worry is in your life today? What do you need to lay before the Father in prayer?

Keep Digging

What does God mean that He is “the God of all flesh” in Jeremiah 32:27? Check out this article from GotQuestions.org!

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April 10, 2024
Jeremiah 31
Read Jeremiah 31

31 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
²This is what the Lord says:
“The people who survive the sword
    will find favor in the wilderness;
    I will come to give rest to Israel.”
³The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
⁴I will build you up again,
    and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
Again you will take up your timbrels
    and go out to dance with the joyful.
⁵Again you will plant vineyards
    on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers will plant them
    and enjoy their fruit.
⁶There will be a day when watchmen cry out
    on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”
⁷This is what the Lord says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob;
    shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
    ‘Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’
⁸See, I will bring them from the land of the north
    and gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
    expectant mothers and women in labor;
    a great throng will return.
⁹They will come with weeping;
    they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
    on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,
    and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
¹⁰“Hear the word of the Lord, you nations;
    proclaim it in distant coastlands:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather them
    and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’
¹¹For the Lord will deliver Jacob
    and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.
¹²They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
    they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord—
the grain, the new wine and the olive oil,
    the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,
    and they will sorrow no more.
¹³Then young women will dance and be glad,
    young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
    I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
¹⁴I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
    and my people will be filled with my bounty,”
declares the Lord.
¹⁵This is what the Lord says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
    mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”
¹⁶This is what the Lord says:
“Restrain your voice from weeping
    and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded,”
declares the Lord.
    “They will return from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷So there is hope for your descendants,”
declares the Lord.
    “Your children will return to their own land.
¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
    ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf,
    and I have been disciplined.
Restore me, and I will return,
    because you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹After I strayed,
    I repented;
after I came to understand,
    I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
²⁰Is not Ephraim my dear son,
    the child in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
    I still remember him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
    I have great compassion for him,”
declares the Lord.
²¹“Set up road signs;
    put up guideposts.
Take note of the highway,
    the road that you take.
Return, Virgin Israel,
    return to your towns.
²²How long will you wander,
    unfaithful Daughter Israel?
The Lord will create a new thing on earth—
    the woman will return to the man.”
²³This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘The Lord bless you, you prosperous city,you sacred mountain.’ ²⁴People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move about with their flocks. ²⁵I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
²⁶At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.
²⁷“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. ²⁸Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. ²⁹“In those days people will no longer say,
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
³⁰Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.
³¹“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
³²It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
³³“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
³⁴No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”
³⁵This is what the Lord says,
he who appoints the sun
    to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
    to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
    so that its waves roar—
    the Lord Almighty is his name:
³⁶“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
    declares the Lord,
“will Israel ever cease
    being a nation before me.”
³⁷This is what the Lord says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured
    and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
    because of all they have done,”
declares the Lord.
³⁸“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuiltfor me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹The measuring linewill stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah.⁴⁰The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”

Go Deeper

In the midst of a really dark time in Israel’s history, there is hope for the future! God is going to make all things new. Judgment was coming to God’s people, but so was something better. This passage might be one of the most significant, not only in the book of Jeremiah, but in the entire Old Testament. There are some major prophecies about how Israel will return, regather, be reunified, and restored. There is also the promise of the New Covenant that God will make with his people in both Judah and Israel.

God’s heart for His people, in light of their rebellion and disbelief, is made so clear in this passage. The Lord says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you” (v. 3). Despite Israel’s transgressions, and the broken old covenant, He will “forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (v. 34). Additionally, the Lord promises to bring His people back home. God is going to regather the flock that He scattered. He promises to gather Israel both physically and spiritually from the remote parts of the world (v. 8). Their weeping will turn into shouts of joy because of the Lord’s goodness (v. 12). Mourning will be turned to dancing!

The passage ends with God telling His people of the new (and better) covenant that was to come. The Old Covenant was made through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s descendants as they were made into a great nation. God promised Abraham in Genesis 12: land (the Promised Land), seed (descendants), and blessing (all nations would be blessed through this family.) God gave His people the Law through Moses as instructions on how to live, and this was conditional. If they believed and obeyed it, they would prosper. If they disobeyed it, they would perish. God established the sacrificial system as a means in which a sinful people could walk with a holy God through sacrifices, feasts, and the priests. However, Israel was repeatedly unfaithful and turned away from God and His provision for them. As a result, their sins had consequences.

This promise of the new covenant is repeated in the book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews emphasizes the superiority of Jesus. He is better than the angels. He is better than Abraham. He is better than Moses. He is better than the Law, and He is ultimately better than the Old Covenant. This new covenant is not just for Israel, but for all nations.

The New Covenant is superior! Our sins will be forgiven, Israel will be restored, and the Law will be written on people’s hearts through the Holy Spirit. This covenant is unconditional, meaning it can not be changed or broken, and it is for all believers. Jesus sealed this covenant through His death, abolishing the old and initiating the new. We can thank God that if we have trusted in Christ, we live under a better covenant, where our sins can be forgiven once and for all.

Questions

The chapter begins with God’s heart for His people and how deeply He loves us! When are you tempted to question God’s love for you? How can you remind yourself of God’s deep love for you today?
What is the significance of the New Covenant? How does it compare to the Old Covenant? What does that mean for us today?
God is in the business of redeeming and restoring brokenness and making all things new. What has God redeemed or restored in your life? Praise Him for that today!

Keep Digging

Click here to read more about the differences between the old and new covenants!

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April 9, 2024
Jeremiah 30
Read Jeremiah 30

Restoration of Israel
30 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. ³The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bringmy people Israel and Judah back from captivity^[a] and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,’ says the Lord.”
⁴These are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah: ⁵“This is what the Lord says:
“‘Cries of fear are heard—
    terror, not peace.
⁶Ask and see:
    Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
    with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor,
    every face turned deathly pale?
⁷How awful that day will be!
    No other will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
    but he will be saved out of it.
⁸“‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty,
    ‘I will break the yoke off their necks
and will tear off their bonds;
    no longer will foreigners enslave them.
⁹Instead, they will serve the Lord their God
    and David their king,
    whom I will raise up for them.
¹⁰“‘So do not be afraid, Jacob my servant;
    do not be dismayed, Israel,’
declares the Lord.
‘I will surely save you out of a distant place,
    your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
    and no one will make him afraid.
¹¹I am with you and will save you,’
    declares the Lord.
‘Though I completely destroy all the nations
    among which I scatter you,
    I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
    I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’
¹²“This is what the Lord says:
“‘Your wound is incurable,
    your injury beyond healing.
¹³There is no one to plead your cause,
    no remedy for your sore,
    no healing for you.
¹⁴All your allies have forgotten you;
    they care nothing for you.
I have struck you as an enemy would
    and punished you as would the cruel,
because your guilt is so great
    and your sins so many.
¹⁵Why do you cry out over your wound,
    your pain that has no cure?
Because of your great guilt and many sins
    I have done these things to you.
¹⁶“‘But all who devour you will be devoured;
    all your enemies will go into exile.
Those who plunder you will be plundered;
    all who make spoil of you I will despoil.
¹⁷But I will restore you to health
    and heal your wounds,’
declares the Lord,
‘because you are called an outcast,
    Zion for whom no one cares.’
¹⁸“This is what the Lord says:
“‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,
    and the palace will stand in its proper place.
¹⁹From them will come songs of thanksgiving
    and the sound of rejoicing.
I will add to their numbers,
    and they will not be decreased;
I will bring them honor,
    and they will not be disdained.
²⁰Their children will be as in days of old,
    and their community will be established before me;
    I will punish all who oppress them.
²¹Their leader will be one of their own;
    their ruler will arise from among them.
I will bring him near and he will come close to me—
    for who is he who will devote himself
    to be close to me?’
declares the Lord.
²²“‘So you will be my people,
    and I will be your God.’”
²³See, the storm of the Lord
    will burst out in wrath,
a driving wind swirling down
    on the heads of the wicked.
²⁴The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he fully accomplishes
    the purposes of his heart.
In days to come
    you will understand this.

Go Deeper

Jeremiah 30 marks the beginning of the Book of Consolation (spanning from chapters 30 to 33), which focus on the overwhelming hope on the horizon for the Israelites. There is a distinct shift from the previous chapters, which are marked by warnings of repentance, to promises of peace and reconciliation between the people and Yahweh. Jeremiah, the messenger for the Lord, is commanded to physically record the words of God before he begins to speak, ensuring that they will not be fed in one ear and lost through the other, but lasting on paper and in heart.
In the verses to follow (5-24 to be specific), the word concerning Israel and Judah can be broken up into three promises clearly put forth in front of the Israelites. The first being a promise of rescue, with the Lord acknowledging the cries of fear and terror, and meeting those with assurances of future salvation. “‘When the time for them to be rescued comes,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. I will deliver you from captivity,’” He says in verse 8. He not only hears the intense groaning of the Israelites, but takes action to remind them of his promise for delivery.
Verses 10-15 are marked by a promise of reprimand, with the Lord stepping into His role of Teacher by reminding them of His rightful disciplining that is to come. Because of the Israelites’ fear of the Lord–not a fear that leads them to cower and shake, but one that gives them a holistic picture of His power, majesty and holiness–they can find rest in the reality that justice will be served to not only their enemies, but to themselves as well. In this, they will find a deeper-rooted relationship with Him, as one does when God, in His slow-moving anger, lovingly but justly reminds us that His way is immeasurably greater.
The final verses are a promise of restoration, where the Savior will “restore [them] to health and heal [their] wounds.” He leaves no work unfinished, but instead, sees all things through to completion. He promises songs of thanksgiving and multiplication of His people, rejoicing in their reconciliation with Him. The choirs of Heaven are left singing when we move forth into the Lord’s promise of restoration over our lives and wholeheartedly believe in the transformation power He has over each of us!

Questions

What is a cry of fear that you are handing to the Lord today, knowing that He promises rescue for His people?
In what way does God’s role as our Teacher give you comfort when He justly calls us higher in our actions?
Read Philippians 1:6. How does knowing that God, who has begun a good work in you, will see it through to the end, change the way you live your life today?

A Quote

“Where is there an instance of God’s beginning any work and leaving it incomplete? Show me for once a word abandoned and thrown aside half-formed; show me a universe cast off from the Great Potter’s wheel, with the design in outline, the clay half-hardened, and the form unshapely from incompleteness.” -Charles Spurgeon
There is none! Find security and comfort in that today!

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April 8, 2024
Jeremiah 29
Read Jeremiah 29

A Letter to the Exiles
29 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²(This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) ³He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:
⁴This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” ⁸Yes, this is what the LordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. ⁹They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sentthem,” declares the Lord.
¹⁰This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you backto this place. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹²Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
¹⁵You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,”¹⁶but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile— ¹⁷yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. ¹⁹For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord.
²⁰Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sentaway from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²¹This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. ²²Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ ²³For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adulterywith their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they have uttered lies—which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the Lord.
Message to Shemaiah
²⁴Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ²⁵“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, ²⁶‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the Lord; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. ²⁷So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? ²⁸He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”
²⁹Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet.³⁰Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ³¹“Send this message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, ³²this is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the Lord, because he has preached rebellion against me.’”

Go Deeper

In this chapter we are able to read a letter from Jeremiah (inspired by God) to the elders and leaders of the Jews living in Babylonian exile. As a reminder, they were far from home and displaced from all that they had known. Imagine the disorienting feeling they must have experienced!
Verses 5-9 outline how God was calling them to live as exiles. They were to settle down and plant roots. They were to marry and have children. They were to plant gardens and make themselves at home. They were to seek the peace and prosperity of those around them (including the Babylonians). There was likely a desire to just wait it out or begrudgingly live day-to-day until they were given the green light to return home after 70 years. But that’s not what God was asking of them. He wanted them to live in a way that was uniquely different and compelling to those around them.
God wanted them to bring shalom to Babylon. That word means “peace” or “wholeness”. As we read the New Testament, Paul talks about how Christians are to be like Christ’s ambassadors here on earth as ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). We have the opportunity to live out the Gospel alongside a broken world that needs to be reconciled to God. We, too, are called to live in a unique and compelling way.
Jeremiah goes on to remind them that God has a plan for His people; they have not been forgotten about and He is still working for their good. Pastor David Guzik in his Enduring Word commentary describes God’s message to the exiles in verses 11-12 like this:
“The exiled Jews lived in the experience of God’s judgment upon their nation. It was easy for them to think that God was against them; that He intended evil for them. Through Jeremiah, God assured them that His thoughts toward them were of peace, and that in His heart and mind He had a future and a hope for them.”
Verse 13 is a powerful reminder of the full devotion that God is looking for: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” God never abandoned his people; He wanted them to seek Him with everything they had. God reminded them that eventually they would return home, giving them hope for the future. We too, as exiles here on earth, can look forward to a future hope where we are finally home with God forever.

Questions

What stuck out to you on your first read through this chapter? Why?
What does it look like practically for you to bring shalom into the place that you live?
Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that’s often used out of context. Reading it in its original context, what is God trying to communicate to the exiles?

A Quote

Dr. Philip Ryken, who has written a commentary on the book of Jeremiah, said this:
“By themselves, random acts of kindness cannot bring enduring peace. The only basis for real and lasting shalom is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.”

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April 6, 2024
Jeremiah 28
Read Jeremiah 28

The False Prophet Hananiah
28 In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: ²“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. ⁴I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. ⁶He said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. ⁷Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: ⁸From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.”
¹⁰Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, ¹¹and he said before all the people, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.
¹²After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³“Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. ¹⁴This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.’”
¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. ¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”
¹⁷In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

Go Deeper

In this chapter, we see a back-and-forth exchange between Jeremiah and Hananiah, the son of another prophet. Hananiah was from Gibeon, a place with a reputation for both deceit and violence. He comes along with a message contradicting that of Jeremiah in the previous chapter, saying they would be freed from the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. This sounded like great news, right? Well, it would have been–if it had been true. While Judah was longing for good news, it turns out that Jeremiah was right all along.

Pastor David Guzik in his Enduring Word commentary says, “When Jeremiah prophesied exile and captivity, Hananiah prophesied return and restoration. They both spoke in the name of the LORD, and it seemed that they could not both be right.” Hananiah even has the audacity to go break the yoke off of Jeremiah’s neck (v. 10-11)! As Jeremiah walked away, the crowd likely assumed Hananiah was right after all–maybe they could trust his more optimistic words instead of Jeremiah’s. As Jeremiah returns (with a new message from the Lord) with a yoke of iron, the message is clear: they were going to be yoked to Nebuchadnezzar, like it or not. Their planned rebellion would fail and Hananiah, as a result of his deception, would soon die.

As you would expect, what Jeremiah said came to pass. Within just a couple of months, Hananiah met the very fate Jeremiah prophesied about. As we read this, isn’t it interesting how desperately the people wanted Hananiah to be right? They wanted the “truth” to be the easier way–the way that got them what they wanted, which was ultimately a return home free of captivity. Something inside of us wants the easier path, and we would love to go the way the world wants us to go in order to take it. As we read this passage with the benefit of being followers of Christ in the twenty-first century, we can read it knowing that we can always test the ways of the world and the “false prophets” of our day with the Word of God. As followers of Christ, we can always trust that the Truth will win out.

Questions

What stuck out to you on your first read through this chapter? Why?
What is the symbolism of the wooden yoke and the iron yoke?
What messages from the false prophets of our day are you tempted to believe? How can you test those against the truth of God’s Word?

By the Way

Jesus talks about the importance of yoking ourselves to him in Matthew 11:28-30:
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

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April 5, 2024