Jeremiah 1:3

3 The LORD ’s messages continued throughout the reign of King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah, another of Josiah’s sons. In August of that eleventh year the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.

Jeremiah 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 1:3

And it came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah
king of Judah
In the beginning of his reign, and in the fourth year of his reign; see ( Jeremiah 25:1 ) ( 26:1 ) ( 27:1 ) ( 35:1 ) ( 36:1 ) , no mention is made of Jehoahaz, who reigned between Josiah and Jehoiakim, because his reign was short, but three months, ( 2 Kings 23:31 ) , and perhaps no word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in his time, though it did before and after: unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of
Judah;
so that Jeremiah must prophesy in the land of Judea upwards of forty years; eighteen under Josiah, ( 2 Kings 22:11 ) , three months under Jehoahaz, ( 2 Kings 23:31 ) eleven years under Jehoiakim, ( 2 Kings 23:36 ) , three months under Jeconiah, ( 2 Kings 24:8 ) , and eleven years under Zedekiah, when the city was besieged and taken, ( 2 Kings 25:2 2 Kings 25:3 ) . Josiah had three sons as kings of Judah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, under all whom Jeremiah prophesied: even unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month:
the month Ab, which answers to part of July and part of August; and it was on the ninth or tenth day of this month that the city of Jerusalem was burnt, and the people carried captive, ( 2 Kings 25:8 2 Kings 25:9 ) ( Jeremiah 52:12 Jeremiah 52:13 ) the ninth of the said month is now kept by the Jews as a fast on that account.

Jeremiah 1:3 In-Context

1 These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests from the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

2 The LORD first gave messages to Jeremiah during the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

3 The LORD ’s messages continued throughout the reign of King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah, another of Josiah’s sons. In August of that eleventh year the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.

4 The LORD gave me this message:

5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew In the fifth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of events in Jeremiah can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. The fifth month in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign occurred within the months of August and September 586 Also see 52:12 and the note there.