person · P0047
Yirmiyahu ירמיהו בן חלקיהו
The prophet of the churban — called in the thirteenth year of Yoshiyahu as "a prophet to the nations," he warned Jerusalem for four decades, lived through its destruction (3338 AM / 586 BCE), and was carried down to Egypt. Tradition credits him with his own book, Melachim, and Eichah. Per the Rambam he received the Oral Torah from Tzefaniah and transmitted it to Baruch ben Neriah.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- ירמיהו בן חלקיהו
- Also known as
- Yirmiyahu ben Chilkiyahu, Jeremiah
- Era
- bible
- Received the mesorah from
- Tzefaniah
- Transmitted the mesorah to
- Baruch ben Neriah
- Students
- Baruch ben Neriah
- Colleagues
- Yechezkel
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3270–3350 AM
- Academic
- fl. c. 626–580s BCE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈80 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Received the Oral Torah from Tzefaniah and his court, and transmitted it to Baruch ben Neriah — the twentieth link in Rambam's forty-generation chain.
Confidence is for the chain as stated by the Rambam. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| The word of God came to him "in the days of Yoshiyahu ben Amon king of Yehudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign"; before his birth he was consecrated "a prophet to the nations."
Confidence is for what the biblical text states. |
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| "Yirmiyahu wrote his own book, the book of Melachim, and Eichah" — the Gemara's account of biblical authorship. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Yirmiyahu was the son of Chilkiyahu, from a priestly family living at Anatot in the territory of Binyamin.
The verse directly identifies his father, priestly setting, and hometown. Whether this Chilkiyahu was the high priest who found the Torah scroll is not stated and should not be assumed.
|
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| Yirmiyahu was instructed not to marry or have sons or daughters in the land.
No spouse or child is subsequently named. |
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| He dictated his words to Baruch ben Neriah, who wrote them on a scroll and read the scroll publicly; King Yehoyakim later cut and burned it, after which Yirmiyahu dictated a replacement scroll with additional material.
A detailed biblical account of dictation, scribal production, destruction, and rewriting.
|
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| During Tzidkiyahu's reign, Yirmiyahu was beaten and imprisoned in the house of the scribe Yehonatan, later confined in the court of the guard, and then lowered into a muddy cistern before Eved-Melech rescued him.
The imprisonment locations and rescue are explicitly narrated. |
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| After Jerusalem's fall, the Babylonian authorities released Yirmiyahu and he joined Gedaliah at Mitzpah; after Gedaliah's assassination, surviving Judean leaders took Yirmiyahu and Baruch to Egypt against Yirmiyahu's direction.
The biblical record ends with him in Egypt; it gives no death or burial account.
|
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| Traditional placement c. 3270–3350 AM, spanning the call in Yoshiyahu's thirteenth year through the destruction (3338 AM) and the descent to Egypt; academic dating c. 626–580s BCE.
Schematic traditional dating. |
tradition reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ |