Bible Character Explorer
Exile and Return • c. 650 to 570 BC
Jeremiah
The Weeping ProphetThe prophet who wept over Jerusalem's sin and promised a coming new covenant
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah."
Jeremiah 31:31 (KJV)
Overview
Jeremiah was called as a young man to prophesy during the final decades of the kingdom of Judah, watching helplessly as the nation ignored his warnings and marched toward destruction and exile at the hands of Babylon. Known as the weeping prophet for his deep grief over Judah's sin and coming judgment, Jeremiah endured persecution, imprisonment, and rejection throughout his ministry, yet he also delivered one of the most important promises in the entire Old Testament: the new covenant that would one day replace the broken covenant of Sinai.
Gospel Connection
Jeremiah's new covenant prophecy is quoted at length in Hebrews 8 as the very covenant established through Jesus Christ's blood, the covenant Jesus himself referenced at the Last Supper when he said, 'This cup is the new testament in my blood.' Where the old covenant was written on tablets of stone and broken repeatedly by Israel, the new covenant Jeremiah promised is written on the heart by the Holy Spirit, providing the internal transformation the law alone could never produce. Jeremiah's weeping over a sinful, unrepentant city also foreshadows Jesus's own weeping over Jerusalem centuries later.
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See how this life points to Christ in the Gospel Connection section above.