As we have said before, the book of Jeremiah includes dates which show us that the text is not in chronological order, but in writing the series
"Terror on Every Side!" I needed to decide what the chronological order was – as far as possible. Although I can't have much confidence in the conclusions for some parts, others we can be very sure of.
In the last few weeks, I have been working through the order all over again and have updated some of the details in the earlier articles.
The Bible Tales articles on the subject are:
Each of these articles has a list of changes at the bottom, so you if you have looked before, you can see what has changed. These articles include the main evidence for the final order chosen.
Quite a few passages in Jeremiah specify the year, month or day, but some passages in Jeremiah identify the time only by naming the ruling king. These are shown in chronological order in the following table. One (Jeremiah 28:1) contains a useful clue to interpreting the others.
|
Date
|
Place in Jeremiah
|
Comments/description
|
|
In the days of Josiah
|
3:6
|
God’s comparison of the evil of Israel and Judah. Time: after Jeremiah started prophesying in the 13th year of Josiah but before the death of Josiah in the 31st year of his reign.
|
|
Beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim
|
26:1
|
Attempt to kill Jeremiah because of his message.
|
|
Beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (or possibly Zedekiah)
|
27:1
|
Jeremiah told to make a yoke and wear it as a symbol. Majority of Hebrew manuscripts say Jehoiakim, but some say Zedekiah. Septuagint (LXX) omits Jeremiah 27:1 and omits any name in 27:3. I have assumed that Jehoiakim is correct.
|
|
In the days of Jehoiakim
|
35:1
|
The example of the Rechabites.
|
|
Beginning of the reign of Zedekiah (5th month of 4th year)
|
28:1
|
Hananiah the prophet gives a false prophecy about the return of the Jews. This passage is useful because it uses “beginning” but then specifies the month and year of Zedekiah’s reign.
|
|
Beginning of the reign of Zedekiah
|
49:34
|
Prophecy about Elam.
|
In the eBook, when the included text of Jeremiah refers to specific days, months or years, the references have been highlighted in yellow. The more vague date references above have been highlighted in orange (3:6; 26:1; 27:1; 35:1; 49:34).
There are other passages that are even more vague, and these have not been highlighted in the text at all. If you are interested in these, look at Jeremiah 24:1; 29:1-2; 43:7-8. We could include others as well, but these give the general idea.
With that introduction and summary, if you want to get this eBook, just click on the button below to download your free copy of the 1.1MB PDF. We hope it is helpful in understanding the book of Jeremiah.
