📖 Biblical Definition
The second of the Major Prophets, fifty-two chapters of prophecy by Jeremiah son of Hilkiah during the final decades of the kingdom of Judah (627-580 BC). Jeremiah witnessed and prophesied the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC. The book contains the New Covenant prophecy (Jer 31:31-34) cited extensively in Hebrews 8 — the most explicit Old Testament prediction of the gospel arrangement that would be inaugurated by Christ. Jeremiah is also the “weeping prophet” whose laments fill the book.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
JEREMIAH, n.
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A scriptural proper name; the second of the Major Prophets.
📖 Key Scripture
Jeremiah 1:5 — "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee."
Jeremiah 17:9 — "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Jeremiah 29:11 — "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."
Jeremiah 31:33 — "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity rips Jeremiah 29:11 out of context; the verse was written to people about to be deported.
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Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most-misused verses in modern Christianity. I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. The verse appears on coffee mugs, graduation cards, and inspirational posters. The original audience was a generation of Jews about to be deported into seventy years of Babylonian captivity. The promised “expected end” was after seventy years (29:10), through their children, in restored Jerusalem.
The verse is still glorious; the context recalibrates it. The Lord's plans for His people are good even when the immediate future is exile. Modern Christianity often expects the “peace and not evil” to mean comfortable lives. Jeremiah's audience experienced fire, swords, deportation, and forty more years of exile before the promise materialized for their grandchildren. Trust the Lord's long-range good even when the immediate forecast is Babylon.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew/Greek roots below.
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H3414 — Yirmeyahu — Jeremiah
Usage
"Modern Christianity rips Jeremiah 29:11 out of context; the verse was written to deportees."
"The Lord's plans are good even when the immediate future is exile."
"Trust His long-range good even when the immediate forecast is Babylon."