Prophet
Prophet Jeremiah
ок. 645 г. до Р. Х. — 1-я пол. VI в. до Р. Х.
Also known as: Прор. Иеремия, Пророк Иеремия Анафофский, Еремей
The second of the great Old Testament prophets, from Anathoth; he foretold the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and announced the New Covenant.
The Prophet Jeremiah is the second of the four great prophets of the Old Testament. He was born around 645 BC in Anathoth, a small Levitical town near Jerusalem, the son of the priest Hilkiah. Around 627 BC, in the 13th year of King Josiah, God called him to prophesy; the young man protested that he was too young and could not speak, but the Lord touched his mouth and put His words in it (Jer 1:9).
For decades Jeremiah denounced idolatry and called the people to repentance. Under King Jehoiakim he foretold that the Temple would share the fate of Shiloh and narrowly escaped execution; the king burned the scroll of prophecies dictated to his disciple Baruch. Under King Zedekiah he urged submission to Babylon, walked the streets wearing a yoke, was branded a traitor and thrown into a muddy pit, from which the Ethiopian courtier Ebed-melech rescued him. In 587/586 BC Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem and burned the Temple, as Jeremiah had warned.
After the murder of the governor Gedaliah, fugitives forced the prophet to go with them to Egypt, where he lived at Tahpanhes. According to tradition he was stoned there by his own people, and Alexander the Great later moved his remains to Alexandria. He is the author of the Book of Jeremiah and the Lamentations. His feast is May 1 (May 14 New Style).
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