Jeremiah
the name of eight men mentioned in the Old Testament, the only very notable one being Jeremiah the prophet. He was of priestly descent, and born or resident at Anathoth, about 3 miles from Jerusalem. His father's name was Hilkiah. When called to the prophetic office, in the 13th year of King Josiah, B. c. 629 or 625, he calls himself a child. His prophetic life spanned the 11th of King Zedekiah, about B. c. 588, a period d of 37 or 41 years. At that time Judah found itself between two powerful kingdoms, Babylon on the E. and Egypt on the S. Josiah espoused the Babylonian alliance, an 1 lost his life fighting against the Egyptians.
Jeremiah also was on the Babylonian side, and, when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah was treated with kindness by the conqueror, being offered the option of an honorable position in Babylon or permission to remain in his own land. Jeremiah elected to stay, and found Gedaliah appointed ruler by the Chaldeans. On the murder of that governor the assassins and their sympathizers fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah with them. Tradition says that he was put to death in Egypt for preaching against idolatry. He wrote two Old Testament books, the prophecies of Jeremiah and the Lamentations. Many rationalistic critics attribute to him also the book of Deuteronomy.
The Prophecies of Jeremiah. - One of the canonical books of the Old Testament, the second of the greater prophets. The several predictions are not in chronological order, though it is believed by some critics that an arrangement of another character is discernible. The concluding chapter, an historical one, is evidently from another hand-the Hebrew and Septuagint differ considerably.
Jeremiah xxxi: 15 is quoted in the New Testament in Matt. ii: 18, and Jer. xxxi: 31-34, in Heb. viii: 8-12. The quotation from Jeremy the prophet in Matt. xxvii: 9 is now found only in Zech. xi: 12, 13.