Reading for October 8th

Yokes Chs. 27-28: Jeremiah's conclict with other prophetic groups is the subject of these two chapters. Three stories increasingly narrow the conflict from an international disagreement to a personal dispute between two prophets. Read Jeremiah 27.1-11 Jeremiah tells the nations that God has placed their lands under the control of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, my servant (v. 6). Their prophets have a contrary view. In verse 11: Those who refuse to serve Babylon will be put under the yoke. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 7th

Read Jeremiah 26.12-24. In verse 12: Jeremiah responds to charges by claiming that it was God who sent me. The trial concludes with a declaration of Jeremiah's innocence. In verses 17-23: Some elders present examples of other prophets who spoke judgments against Jerusalem. In verses 18-23: King Hezekiah received the message of the prophet Micah, whereas the current king, Jehoiakim, rejected the words of the prophet Uriah and had him killed. In verse 24: Mysteriously, Ahikam rescues Jeremiah from death. The story blames the king for rejecting the prophetic word and invites the book's readers to join Jeremiah's supporters. It presents Jeremiah as a model of fidelity who, while in the hands of captors, remains faithful and is recused from peril. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 6th

HOW THE NATION WILL SURVIVE Chs. 26-52: The first "book" (chs 1-25) accused Judah of infidelity, promised destruction and exile, and defended God from accusations of injustice. The second "book" (chs. 26-52) presents stories and poems that reveal how to survive the period after the naton's fall to Babylon. No longer is repentance to avert the disaster the primary concern. The book's audience lives with the community's failure to repent. They themselves must repent and endure. Jeremiah appears here as a model of faithful endurance. Jeremiah's companion Baruch also appears in this part of the book. Baruch has traditionally been named as the writer of the stories about Jeremiah, particularly in chs. 37-45. The exilic period was a time of great conflict about how to survive. the book insists that survival requires continued submission to Babylon, repentance, and obedience as set out in the book of Jeremiah. In Chs. 26-29: Prophetic discord. These chapters set forth disputes about which prophetic vision of the future will ensure the nation's survial. Read Jeremiah 26.1-11. In 26.1-24.: Jeremiah on trial. This chapter shows that Jeremiah faced great conflict but that he is the true prophet and, hence, is to be heeded. In verses 1-6:The chapter refers to Jeremiah's Temple sermon (7.1-8.3) and summarizes it. What is of interest here, however, is the community's reponse to the sermon. Some accept it, priest, prophets, and King Jehoiakim reject it. Some ofthe leaders put Jeremiah on trial. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 5th

Read Jeremiah 25.30-38. In25.30-38: The Lion. God is a roaring lion who will devour the nations that have destroyed Judah. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 4th

Read Jeremiah 25.15-29. In 25.15-29: Cup of wrath. A symbolic action makes the prophecy of vv. 8-14 concrete. God commands Jeremiah to act as a wine steward. But instead of serving a joyous feast, Jeremiah serves a cup of wrath to the kings of major nations and city-states around Judah. In verse 26: The final king to drink is the king of Babylon, here called Shessach. All must drink of God's punishment. In the symbolic sphere, Judah and its enemies have already exchanged places. All that remains is for historical events to unfold. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 3rd

Babylon's fall Ch. 25:This chapter closes off the first major division of the book by reaching back to ch. 1. At las, Jeremiah acts as "porphet to the nations" (1.5,10). Read Jeremiah 25.1-14. In 25.1-14: Invaders will be punished. In verse 1: A narrator dates the chapter to the ruler of the Judahite King Jehoiakim and the Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar. That date, 606 BCE, indicates that Jeremiah has prophesied the fall of Judah to Babylon well inadvance of events. His prophecy of the fall of Babylon will, therefore, prove equally reliable. In verses 3-7: Jeremiah summarizes his career and the people's refusal to listen to his words. This refusal provoked divine anger. In verses 8-14: God presents the consequences of not listening. In verse 9: The tribes of the north, now identifiied as Babylon, will be God's agent of destruction. God calls the Bbaylonian king my servant. As divine agents, the Babylonians will destroy life on an international scale. In verse 11: Judah will serve Babylon for 70 years. The number may simply mean "a long time," for the exile lasted only 50 years. In verse 14: After that time God will punish Babylon. Comments or Question..

Reading for October 2nd

Read Jeremiah 24.1-10. In 24.1-10: Figs. Jerusalem has been invaded, King Jehoiachin is in captivity, and King Zedekiah has been appointed in his place. Jeremiah has a vision of two baskets of figs. One symbolizes survivors in Babylon, the other stands for those who have stayed in Judah or escaped to Eypt. The first basket is good; the second is rotten. The message for the survivors is that to survive they must cooperate with Babylon. Only then will they have a future. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 1st

Read Jeremiah 23.23-40. These prose verses continue to discredit the other prophets who have led the people astray. In verses 33-40: A play on words makes the same attack on the prophets. The word translated "burden" can also mean "oracle" or "prophetic poem." The prophets who ask for an oracle or message from God learn that they are God's burden. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 30th

Read Jeremiah 23.18-22. The prophet is the one who goes before God, in the council of the Lord. These prophets God did not send, and they did not speak God's words; they are false prophets. By implication, only Jeremiah is a true prophet. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 29th

Read Jeremiah 23.9-17. In 23.9-40: Prophets As a group of leaders, the prophets failed to be true to their calling to speak the word of God. In verses 9-11: God laments over infidelity. In verses 13-14: The prophets of the northern kingsdom of Samaria were shocking in their worship of Baal, but the prophets of Judah were even worse, like the two cities destroyed for their sinfulness (Gen 19). Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 28th

Read Jeremiah 23.1-8. In 23.1-8: Restoration. In these prose verses, God promises restoration to kings, portrayed by the traditional figure of the shepherd. If the readers of the book were already in exile, these promises of future Davidic kingship would not contridict Jeremiah's prophecy of invasion. Those events would already have occurred. The audience awaits a new future promised here. The prophecies of doom explain in a variety of ways why things have come to this tragic situation. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 27th

Read Jeremiah 22.6b-30. In 22.6b-30: Fate of kings and nation. Verse 6 Connects all these poems in kings. In verses 7-9: Punishment will come upon them and the city will be destroyed. In verses 10-11: King Josiah and his sons Jehoahaz, also known as Shallum, both meet tragic fates. Josiah dies in battle (2 Kings 23.38-30), but sadder still is the fate of Jehoahaz, who is exiled from the land. In verses 13-19: This poem contrasts good king Josiah with his son, the bad king Jehoiakim. Josiah is a true king because he does justice; his son exploits people for his own benefit. In verses 20-23: These verses address an unidentified female ("you" is feminine in the Hebrew text) who is sent outside Israel to neighboring Lebanon. This location is puzzling, but the woman seems to be God's unfaithful wife, who has refused to listen. In verses 24-30: God promises to hurl into Babylonian exile King Jehoiakim's son, King Jeholachin, here caled Coniah. In verse 30: With him, kingship will end. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 26th

Read Jeremiah 21.11-22.6a In 21.11-22.6a: Justice. In verses 21.11-14: The poem addresses the kings by the title house of David, referring to all the kings who occupied the Davidic throne (1 Sam 7). The role of the king is to administer justice. If the kings fail, then the fire of divine wrath will destroy them. In 22.1-6a: A prose passage elaborates on the obligation of the kings to do justice for the afflicted. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 25th

THE INVASION'S AFTERMATH Chs. 21-25: these loosely connected chapters assume that the nation has already been invaded by Babylon. So, far the book has presented captivity only in symbolic terms, but the invasion is described more realistically in 21.1-10. These chapters focus on survival in the battle's aftermath. Prose narratives offer advice to the survivors (21.1-10; 24.1-10). Poems explain how the invasion happened by blaming kings and prophets (21.11-23.40). National survival is promised (25,1-14) and international justice foretold (25.15-38). The voice of a narrator is more prominent than in previous chapters, and these chapters refer more directly to historical dates and persons than do earlier chapters, Read Jeremiah 21.1-10. In 21.1-10: The attack. In verses 1-2: Jeremiah presents a prophecy to messengers sent to him by King Zedekiah of Judah. Zedekiah hopes that God will send Babylonians and their king Nebuchadrezzar, away as in the past (Isa 36-37). In verses 3-7: But instead of sending the Baylonians (also called Chaldeans) away, God will bring them into the city and fight against Judah. In verses 8-9: In langauge that appears also in Deut 30.11-10, the text urges them to "choose lfe." To live, they must surrender to Babylon. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 24th

Read Jeremiah 20.14-18. In 20.14-18: A curse. Jeremiah curses the day of his birth, like Job (Job 3). This curse closes the section on the covenant's destruction that was begun by the curse against the nation in ch 11. Jeremiah's curse speaks of the tragedy of his mission to announce disaster so that he wishes he had never been born. If his life represents that of the people, his captivity, the fulfillment of his word, and his curse enact and bring about their captivity. comments or Questions..

Reading for September 23rd

Read Jeremiah 20.7-13. In 20.7-13: Jeremish's fifth confession. Jeremiah blames captivity on God, who has given him words of terror to announce. In verse 9: Jeremiah tried to withhold his message of violence, but it was like fire: he could not hold it in. Jeremiah's message is not his own, but from God alone. In verses 11-13: Jeremiah remembers God is with him and that the word will be accomplished. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 22nd

Read Jeremiah 20.1-6. In 20.1-6: Jeremiah's captivity. The book does not yet report the invasion of Jerusalem but, instead, portrays the disaster symbolically. Jeremiah himself is captured in the Temple by the high priest. In verses 4-6: That event becomes the occasion for Jeremiah's announcement that Babylon, mentioned for the first time in the book, will invade and destroy Judah and that the high priest and his supporters will go into captivity. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 21st

Read Jeremiah 19.1-15. In 19.1-15: The broken pot. Jeremiah performs a symbolic action is which he breaks an earthenware jug in front of the edlers and priests to represent the nation. He summarizes their idolatries, their sins, and their refusals to listen. In verse 15: Then he announces the fulfillment of the long promised disaster. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 20th

Read Jeremiah 18.18-23. In 18.18-23: Jeremiah's fourth confession. In verse 18: Enemies of Jeremiah speak in a prose comment that illustrates the community's failure to repent. In verses 19-20: Jeremiah reminds God of how faithful Jeremiah has been to his prophetic mission. In verses 21-23: He asks God to punish the enemies who try to kill him. The prophet's enemies are the enemies of God because they refuse to hear the divine word that the prphet claims to speak. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 19th

Read Jeremiah 18.13-17. In 18.13-17: God's response. God laments their idolatry and turns from them. Comments or Questions..

Readng for September 18th

CAPTIVITY Chs. 18-20:These chapters mark the climax in the first part of the book and are more closely woven the previous sections. In them the threats of captivity and disaster come to a symbolic fulfillment. After relentess efforts by God and Jeremiah to bring the nation to repentance, punishment comes upon them. Rad Jeremiah 18.1-12 In 18.1-12: The potter. Prose narrative describes Jeremiah's visit to the potter. The potter makes a vessel that he dislikes, so he destroys it and starts again. In verse 11: This action becomes a symbol of God's plan for Israel and occasions a final invitation to repent. In verse 12: The people adamantly refuse to repent. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 17th

Read Jeremiah 17.19-27. In 17.19-27:Sabbath sermon. In this prose passge, God directs Jeremiah to announce to the leadership the absolute necessity of keeping sabbath law. They are not to carry burdens or do work, and they must heed divine commands. If they fail, then Jerusalem will be destroyed by fire. This sermon explains again thhat the exile did not occur because God's cruleity or forgetfulness but resulted from the community's failure to be faithful. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 16th

Read Jeremiah 17.14-18. In 17.14-18: Jeremiah's third confession. Jeremiah is less accusatory of God here than in previous confessions and asks for healing of his wound. In verse 15: He quotes his enemies, who doubt that he speaks the word of God because it has not yet come true. He asks God to take vengence against them comments or Questions..

Reading for September 15th

Read Jeremish 17.1-13. In 17.1-27: True worship. Many voices combine in this chapter. In verses 1-4: In prose accusation, God accuses the people of Judah of idolatry and promises that they will be exiled. In verses 5-8: In language reminiscent of Ps. 1, God announces the cursed fate of those who trust in themselves, and the blessed condition of those who trust in God. In verses 12-13: The voice of worship addressed to God reappears and speaks about the foolishness of abandoning the fountains of living water (2.13). Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 14th

Read Jeremiah 16.16-21. In verses 16-18: God's punishment here may be against the enemies who have invaded the land and polluted it with idols. In verse 19-20: A worshipping voice addresses God in the style of the chidlren's speech (3.22-25) expressing loyalty and repentance. This speech provides a model of piety for the exiles to follow. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 13th

Read Jeremiah 16.10-15. In verse 10-13: God quotes the people, who ask questions at the very heart of the book. Why has this happened? Exile has happened because of their sin and infidelity. In verses 14-15: Divine promises of a hopeful suture addressed to the survivors of the nation's fall interrupt announcements of exile. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 12th

Read Jeremiah 16.1-9. In 16.1-21: Jeremiah's celibacy. Several voices debate the meaning of exile. In verse 1-9: The first voice of God, who commands Jeremiah not to take a wife and not to beget children. Jeremiah's isolation from the community becomes even stronger. Yet his life becomes symbolic act, a sign of what will happen to the people in exile. Normal life will be over. There will be no marriages, and that means there will be no children. Domestic life is over and the people have no future. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 11th

Read Jeremiah 15.10-21. In 15.10-21: Jeremiah's second confession. In verse 10: Jeremiah laments his calling to announce the coming tragedy to the community. In verse 15: He addresses God directly to complain that he has been faithful, taking the divine words into himself like food. In verse 17: He stayed away from community life. In verse 18: Like the people, Jeremiah's wound is incurable, for God is unreliable. In verse 19-21: God replies that Jeremiah must turn to God, just as Jeremiah has asked the people to do. (4.2). Then God will be with him and rscue him. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 10th

Read Jeremiah 15.1-9. In 15.1-16.21: No future, yet a future. In verse 1: Jeremiah cannot intercede with God for this sinful people because their infidelity places them beyond hope. Even the great mediators of the past, Moses and Sanuel, could not get God to change the divine mind. These refusals byGod to hear the prophet also indicate to the exilic audience that Jeremiah did not fail to prevent the nation's fall. Rather, they had sinned and God had no choice but to puish them. In verses 2-3: Poetry moves from the mythic description of the foe of the north to a more natural invasion and destruction. The culprit in this verse is King Manasseh, (2 Kings 21.10-15), who was famous for his idolatry. In verses 5-9: God laments over female Jerusalem, describes the disasters ahead, and accpts full responsibility for bringing calamity upon her. But the poem indicates that God has punished her only after becoming weary of relenting (v. 6). The poem defends God from charnes or cruelty. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 9th

Read Jeremiah 14.17-22. In verse 17: Jeremiah weeps at the woundedness of the people, portrayed as the virgin daughter, grievously wounded by a crushing blow. In verses 19-22: The people use language of worship to protest God's neglect of them and to ask why there is no healing and no rain. The people's vice probably represents the voice of the exiles, expressing repentance and hope in the same style as the children in 3.22-25. Comments or Questions..