Jeremiah

10 Episodes

Jeremiah is a prophetic book rooted in the last decades of the kingdom of Judah and the trauma of Babylonian conquest, but its surviving textual forms show substantial growth and reshaping after that period. The contrast between the longer Masoretic edition and the shorter Greek form makes Jeremiah one of the clearest witnesses to the fluid literary history of prophetic books.

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Why this book matters

Jeremiah returns on the show as the prophetic book most tightly bound to the collapse of Judah, the Babylonian exile, and the problem of how communities survive defeat without surrendering their identity. The hosts repeatedly use Jeremiah 29 to push back against modern political prooftexting, stressing that its call to seek the welfare of the city addresses exiles learning to endure displacement, not a religious movement trying to seize state power.

The book also matters because Jeremiah is one of the best places to see the Hebrew Bible’s textual plurality. Discussions of the shorter Septuagint form, the longer Masoretic edition, and related traditions like Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah make the book a key example of prophetic literature that was preserved, expanded, and reinterpreted across multiple textual communities.

Where to start

Start here for the strongest listening on Jeremiah.

Quotes from the Data

“Some [Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts] show that the Septuagint reading of Jeremiah, which is 1/6 shorter than the book of Jeremiah in the Masoretic Text, is preserved in some of these Hebrew manuscripts.”

Dan McClellan Episode 159

“[That] suggests to a lot of scholars that the Septuagint version of Jeremiah was earlier than what we now have in the Masoretic Text, that the Masoretic Text reading is later, secondary.”

Dan McClellan Episode 159

“The message is actually to these exiles: get comfy, because you gonna be there for a while.”

Dan McClellan Episode 113

“It is not saying you must force the welfare that you want onto the city. It's saying seek out. Don't try to undermine.”

Dan McClellan Episode 113

All episodes

Every episode currently tagged with Jeremiah.