II.  Judah Called to Repentance, Chs. 2-22.

   1.  Her sins set forth, Chs. 2-6

   2.  The call to repentance, Chs. 7-10.

   3.  The appeal to the covenant, Chs. 11-13.

   4.  Rejection and captivity foretold, Chs. 14-22.

III.  The Book of Consolation, Chs. 23-33.

   1.  The restoration of the remnant, Chs. 22-29.

   2.  The complete restoration, Chs. 30-33.

 IV.  The Doom of Jerusalem Due to the People’s Wickedness, Chs. 34-36.

  V. The History of Jeremiah and His Times, Chs. 37-45.

 VI.  Prophecies Against Foreign Nations, Chs, 46-51.

VII.  Historical Appendix, Ch. 52.

Lamentations.

The name means elegies or mournful or plaintive poems.  It was formerly a part of Jeremiah and represents the sorrows of Jeremiah when the calamities which he had predicted befell his people, who had often despised and rejected him for his messages.  He chose to live with them in their suffering and out of his weeping pointed them to a star of hope.  There are five independent poems in as many chapters.  Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 have each 22 verses or just the number of the Hebrew alphabet.  Chapter 3 has 66 verses or just three times the number of the alphabet.  The first four chapters are acrostic, that is each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  In chapter three, each letter is used in order and is three times repeated as the initial letter of three successive lines.

Analysis.

  I. The Misery of Jerusalem, Ch. 1.

 II.  The Cause of the People’s Suffering, Ch. 2.

III.  The Basis of Hope, Ch. 3.

 IV.  The Past and Present of Israel, Ch. 4.

  V. The Final Appeal for Restoration, Ch. 5.

For Study and Discussion. (1) Make a list of the evils predicted against the people because of their sins. (Example 19:7-9). (2) Make a list of the different sins and vices of which Jeremiah accuses Israel.  (Example 2:12; 3:20, etc.) (3) Point out all the prophesies of Divine judgment against other nations and analyze the punishment foretold.  (Example 5:18-25). (4) Study the case of fidelity to parents given in Ch. 35. (5) Collect all passages in both books which tell of the Messiah and of Messianic times and make a study of each (as 23:5-6). (6) Select a few of the striking passages of Lamentations and show how they apply to the facts of history. (6) The sign and type of the destruction of the land.  Chs. 13-14. (8) The potter an illustration of God’s power over nations, Chs. 18-19. (9) The illustration of the return, seen in the figs, Ch. 24. (10) Jeremiah’s letter to the captive, Ch. 29. (11) Jeremiah’s love for Judah-it saw their faults, rebuked them for their sins, but did not desert them when they were in suffering, because they despised his advice.

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Chapter XVII.

Ezekiel and Daniel.