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One-sentence summary: The Lord prophesies through Jeremiah the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah because they have forsaken Him and not repented.
The Lord tells Jeremiah to stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim His word to Judah. He tells the people to "amend their ways and their doings" so He may cause them to dwell in the land He gave to their fathers. If they thoroughly amend their ways and doings- performing justice, not oppressing the stranger, fatherless, or widow, and not shedding innocent blood or walking after other gods to their hurt,- then the Lord will cause them to dwell in the land. They worship other gods, and then they go to the Lord's house and call on His name. The Lord asks if His house has become a den of thieves in their eyes. He says because they have done all these works, not hearing when He spoke or coming when He called, then He will cast them out of His sight. He tells Jeremiah not to pray for them because He will not hear. In Judah and Jerusalem, they "make cakes for the queen of heaven" and pour out drink offerings to other gods. It is "to the shame of their own faces." So the Lord says that His anger and fury will be poured out on man and beast alike, even on the trees and the fruit, and "it will burn and not be quenched." The Lord says He commanded them to obey His voice and walk in the ways He commanded them so that it might go well with them, but they did not obey or listen but followed the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts, "going backward and not forward." He says ever since He brought their fathers out of Egypt, He has sent them His servants the prophets, "rising early daily and sending them." Yet, they stiffened their neck and did even worse than their fathers. So the Lord tells Jeremiah to speak all these words, yet He warns that they still will not obey, and to call them, but they still will not answer. He is to say to them that this is a nation that does not obey the Lord or receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouths. The Lord tells Jeremiah to cut off his hair and lament on the desolate heights because the Lord "has forsaken the generation of His wrath." They have polluted His house with abominations and built high places to worship other gods. The Lord will cause the voice of mirth and gladness, of the bride and bridegroom, to vanish, and the land will be desolate.
The Lord says that the bones of the kings and princes, priests and prophets of Judah. and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves and spread before all the hosts of heaven, which they have sought and worshipped. And they will be like refuse on the face of the earth; "death will be chosen rather than life" by all who remain in all the places where the Lord has driven them. He tells Jeremiah to ask if they will fall and not rise, or turn away and not return. He asks why Jerusalem has "slidden back in a perpetual backsliding." They "hold to deceit and refuse to return." The Lord listens, and no one speaks what is right. No one repents or asks what they have done. The stork and turtledove know their appointed times, but His people do not know the judgement of the Lord. Jeremiah asks how they can say they are wise and the Lord's law is with them. He says the wise men are dismayed because they have rejected the word of the Lord, and they do not have wisdom. Therefore, their wives and fields will be given to others because they are all covetous and false, from the prophets to the priests. "They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly," says the Lord, "saying, "Peace! Peace!' when there is no peace." They have had no shame. The Lord will punish them and cast them down and consume them. There will be no grapes or figs, and the things the Lord has given will pass away from them. Jeremiah asks them why they will not assemble and be quiet together for their sin. They see no peace, good, or health- only trouble. The Lord will send serpents and vipers which cannot be charmed who will bite them. Jeremiah says he will comfort himself in sorrow; his heart is faint within him. He hears the cry of his people from a faraway land. The people are not saved, and Jeremiah is in mourning and is hurt for the hurt of his people. He is astonished and asks, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?"
Jeremiah says, "Oh that my head were water and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" He wishes he had a lodging place in the wilderness for travelers, to leave his people, who are all adulterers, treacherous, and liars who care nothing for truth and do evil. "They do not know Me," says the Lord. The Lord says not to trust a brother or neighbor, because they are all corrupt, lying deceivers. "They weary themselves to commit iniquity." Jeremiah says he lives in the midst of deceit and among people who refuse to know the Lord. The Lord says He will refine and try them. Though they speak peacefully to their neighbor, in their hearts they lie in wait for him. So the Lord will avenge Himself. He will wail and weep for the mountains and wilderness, because they are burned up so that no one can pass through. No one can hear the cattle, birds, or beasts. Jerusalem will be a heap of ruins, a den of jackals, and Judah will be desolate without inhabitants. "Who is the wise man that he may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken that he may declare it?" The Lord says the land has perished because they have forsaken His law and not obeyed His voice but walked after the dictates of their own hearts and after Baal. So the Lord will feed them with wormwood and give them gall to drink and scatter them among the Gentiles. He will send a sword after them until He has consumed them. The Lord tells Jeremiah to send skillful wailing women and mourners to take up a waling so that the people may weep, "For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion... we are greatly ashamed... we have been cast out of our dwellings." He tells the women to hear the word of the Lord and to teach their daughters and neighbors lamentation, because death has come into their nation. The Lord says their carcasses will fall like refuse on the open fields. He says, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories, glory in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these, I delight." The Lord says the days are coming when He will punish the circumcised with the uncircumcised, because His people are uncircumcised in their hearts.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Have you ever wished you could weep endlessly until all your grief was gone? The Lord has felt that way- and He still does. He weeps over the brokenness of the world. He weeps over you when you are hurting. And He also calls you to weep with Him over the wounds of the world. There is "balm in Gilead." Tears bring healing- to us and to those we weep for.