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Jeremiah and Lamentations: Babylonian Crisis

  1. Lesson One
    The Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1–6, 26–29, 35–38)
    19 Activities
    |
    4 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Jeremiah: Idolatry and Anguish (Jeremiah 39–51)
    20 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Jeremiah: Shame and Dignity (Jeremiah 7–20)
    21 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  4. Lesson Four
    Jeremiah: A Future Hope (Jeremiah 21–25, 30–34)
    21 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    Lamentations
    21 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

As effective as laments are at communicating themes of shame and dishonor, Jeremiah sometimes uses dialogue—shifting back and forth between voices of different characters. 

He frames the shame and dishonor of his people in a chorus of voices that can be difficult to disentangle. In different parts of Jeremiah we might wonder, “Who’s talking here?” Sometimes it’s several people in sequence. 

  1. Let’s look at Jeremiah 8:18-21. Complete the right-hand column in the table by identifying the speaker for each row. (Hint: The characters include Jeremiah, YHWH, narrator and the people.)
JeremiahPassage NASBSpeaker
8:18“My sorrow is beyond healing,
My heart is faint within me!”
8:19aBehold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land . . .
8:19b“Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
8:19c“Why have they provoked Me with their carved images, with foreign idols?”
8:20“Harvest is past, summer is over,
And we are not saved.”
8:21“I am broken over the brokenness of the daughter of my people.
I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.”

Adapted from: Jack R. Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20, 1999, pp. 138-139.