The big picture
Jeremiah 21 turns Jerusalem's expected pattern of deliverance inside out. Zedekiah sends a delegation hoping that God will act according to former wonders and drive Babylon away. Instead, the answer uses the language of divine power against the city itself. The weapons in Jerusalem's hands will not save it, and the Lord declares that he will fight against the place the king expects him to defend. The way of life is then located beyond the walls: remaining in the city leads toward sword, famine, and pestilence, while surrender to the Chaldeans preserves life as the one piece of spoil a person can carry away. The royal house receives no exemption from the chapter's moral account. The house of David is told to execute judgment and rescue the oppressed, and the city's confidence in its geography cannot replace that duty. The chapter begins with a king requesting a wonder and ends with conduct, not fortification, as the issue under judgment.
Central truth
Jeremiah 21:1 to 24:10 confronts failed kings, corrupt shepherds, and false prophets while the two baskets of figs overturn easy assumptions by presenting the exiles as those the LORD will watch for good and the remaining leadership as headed toward ruin.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Jeremiah 21:1: “The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest…”
Slow down at the turning point
Jeremiah 21:3: “Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:”
Keep this word trail visible
LORD, king, hand, city, Babylon, fire
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Jeremiah 21:1-14
The king asks for a miracle
Set the scene in Zedekiah's reign, with Babylon's army at the walls around 588 BC. Note that this Pashur, son of Melchiah, is a different man from the Pashur of chapter 20. The king hopes for a repeat of the LORD's wonders. Jeremiah's answer in 21:4-7 is that the LORD himself will fight against the city. Then 21:8 echoes Deuteronomy 30:15: "the way of life, and the way of death". Surrender to Babylon is now the way of life. Teach this first because it explains why Jeremiah was called a traitor: his message from God was to yield.
Jeremiah 22:1-9
Justice at the palace gate
Jeremiah goes down to the royal palace and speaks to the king on David's throne. Read 22:3 and list its five commands on the board. Explain that the stranger, the fatherless and the widow are the three groups with no one to defend them in court, and the king was their defender. Then the two futures of 22:4-5: kings riding through the gates, or a desolate house. Read 22:8-9, where passing nations ask why the city fell, and the answer is that they forsook the covenant. This step sets the standard by which each king in the chapter will be measured.
Jeremiah 22:10-30
Three kings measured
Walk through the kings in order. Shallum, also called Jehoahaz, was taken to Egypt and would never return (22:10-12). Jehoiakim built a palace of cedar with unpaid workers (22:13-14), and the LORD contrasts him with his father Josiah, who "judged the cause of the poor and needy" (22:16). Read the question "was not this to know me?" and give it weight. Jehoiakim would be buried like a donkey. Then Coniah, also called Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, is cast off like a signet ring and written "childless" as to the throne (22:24-30). Teach these as real kings so the history is clear.
Jeremiah 23:1-8
Bad shepherds and the righteous Branch
After the failed kings comes promise. Read 23:1-4 and point out the wordplay: the shepherds did not visit, that is attend to, the flock, so the LORD will visit them with judgment. Then the Branch of 23:5-6, a shoot from David's stump that will do what the kings would not. Explain the name "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" and its likely play on Zedekiah's name. Mention that Christians have long read the Branch as fulfilled in Jesus, the son of David, and let that stand after the text's own description. Finish with the new exodus of 23:7-8.
Jeremiah 23:9-40
Chaff and wheat
Now Jeremiah turns to the prophets, and his own heart breaks (23:9). Read selections: they commit adultery and walk in lies (23:14), they say "Ye shall have peace" to those who despise God (23:17), they ran without being sent (23:21). The central test is 23:18 and 23:22: standing in the LORD's council and turning people from evil. Then 23:28-29: a dream is chaff, the word is wheat, fire and hammer. Explain the burden wordplay of 23:33-40 briefly. Teach this step as the key to discerning messages in the rest of the book.
Jeremiah 24:1-10
Two baskets of figs
Explain the date: after the deportation of 597 BC, when Jeconiah, princes and craftsmen were taken to Babylon. Those left in Jerusalem probably thought themselves favoured. Jeremiah sees two baskets in front of the temple, one of excellent early figs, one of rotten figs. The LORD reverses expectations: the exiles are the good figs (24:5-7), and Zedekiah's court and those in Egypt are the bad (24:8-10). Spend time on 24:7, the promise of a heart to know the LORD. Teach it last because it prepares for the letter to the exiles in chapter 29.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"Jeremiah was unpatriotic and on Babylon's side."
Jeremiah's message to surrender (21:9) came from the LORD, who said he had "set my face against this city for evil" (21:10). Jeremiah grieved for his people (9:1) and later chose to stay with them (40:6). He also announced Babylon's own downfall (chapters 50 and 51). The message was not loyalty to an empire but obedience to God's announced judgment. Do not map this onto modern nations or politics; keep it in Judah's history.
"Woe to the pastors means this chapter is about church pastors."
In Jeremiah's day pastors meant shepherds, the common Near Eastern title for kings and rulers. The context of 22:1-30 is the kings of Judah, and 23:1-4 continues that subject. The principle does apply to anyone who leads God's people, and the New Testament uses shepherd language for elders (1 Peter 5:2-4). But teach it first as a word against rulers who scattered the nation.
"The good figs were good because the exiles were more righteous."
The text never says the exiles were better people. It says the LORD will "acknowledge" them for good and "set mine eyes upon them for good" (24:5-6). The goodness is his intention and his work, especially "I will give them an heart to know me" (24:7). The exiles were taken because of the nation's sin, like everyone else. The vision teaches that God can do his best work in the place that looks like rejection.
"A prophet who has a dream is always a false prophet."
Scripture records true dreams, such as Joseph's and Daniel's. Jeremiah 23:28 does not ban dreams; it sets them against the LORD's word: "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully." The problem is prophets who present their own imaginings as God's word and who do not turn people from evil (23:22). Teach the test, not a suspicion of all experiences.
Learning objectives
- Explain Zedekiah's request and Jeremiah's answer in chapter 21.
- Identify the royal responsibilities emphasized in chapter 22.
- Trace the shepherd indictment and promised righteous Branch in chapter 23.
- Distinguish true prophetic speech from dreams and stolen words.
- Interpret the two baskets of figs from chapter 24.
- Explain why exile is not treated as simple evidence of divine abandonment.
Teacher preparation
- Review the order of Judah's final kings named in chapters 21 and 22.
- Mark every command concerning judgment, oppression, stranger, fatherless, widow, and innocent blood.
- Separate 23:1 to 8 from the false-prophet material beginning later in the chapter.
- List the repeated 'I am against' statements in 23:30 to 32.
- Read all of chapter 24 and let verses 5 to 10 interpret the figs.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Jeremiah 22:3 explicitly commands justice and protection of the oppressed. Jeremiah 24:5 to 7 explicitly calls the exiles good figs and promises to give them a heart to know the LORD.
Scripture-supported
Second Kings supports the historical setting of Judah's final kings and Babylonian deportations referred to throughout these chapters.
Strong inference
The good-fig interpretation strongly overturns the natural assumption that those remaining in Jerusalem were necessarily more favored than those already exiled.
Possible or traditional reading
The righteous Branch in 23:5 to 6 has long received messianic interpretation. Teach first what the passage says: a Davidic king will reign, execute judgment and justice, and bring safety.
Limit
The fig vision does not call exile pleasant or deny judgment. It says the LORD can use exile for the good of those He promises to restore.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What answer does Zedekiah receive in chapter 21 when he asks for deliverance?
What a good answer contains
Zedekiah hopes the LORD "will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us" (21:2), perhaps remembering Hezekiah's deliverance from Assyria. The answer is the reverse of a miracle: "I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm" (21:5). Point out that the phrase outstretched hand and strong arm is exodus language, now turned against Jerusalem. Then 21:8-9 offers the people "the way of life, and the way of death": surrender and live. A good answer feels the shock of God fighting his own city. A weak answer says only that the king was refused.
Show teacher guidance
Instead of a miracle like former days, Jeremiah announces that the LORD Himself will fight against the city.
2. What must the king's house do according to 22:3?
What a good answer contains
"Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place" (22:3). Explain judgment as just rulings and the spoiled as the robbed. The promise attached is that David's kings would keep entering the palace gates (22:4); the threat is desolation (22:5). A good answer sees that the king's first duty is to the weakest. Then show 22:15-16, where doing justice for the poor is called knowing the LORD. A weak answer makes the duty religious ceremony.
Show teacher guidance
Execute judgment and righteousness, deliver the spoiled, and do no wrong or violence to vulnerable people.
3. What is wrong with the shepherds in 23:1 to 4?
What a good answer contains
They destroy and scatter instead of feeding. The LORD speaks against "the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture" (23:1), and says, "Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them" (23:2). Explain that pastors here means rulers, kings and officials, not church ministers. Then the twist: because they did not visit the flock, the LORD will visit their evil on them, and he himself will gather the remnant and set up shepherds who feed them (23:3-4). A good answer sees God taking over the shepherd's work. A weak answer reads it only as a warning to modern pastors.
Show teacher guidance
They destroy and scatter the flock rather than caring for it, so the LORD promises both judgment and gathering.
4. What does the Branch in 23:5 to 6 do that failed rulers did not?
What a good answer contains
The failed kings built palaces by unpaid labour (22:13) and scattered the people. The Branch "shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth" (23:5). Under him "Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely" (23:6). His name is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS", which may be a pointed play on Zedekiah, whose name means the LORD is righteous. A good answer lists what he does: reigns wisely, does justice, brings safety, unites Judah and Israel. A weak answer jumps to a later fulfilment without first reading what Jeremiah says the Branch does.
Show teacher guidance
He reigns wisely, executes judgment and justice, and brings safety to Judah and Israel.
5. How are false prophets exposed in 23:25 to 32?
What a good answer contains
By their source and their fruit. Their message is "a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD" (23:16). They say "I have dreamed, I have dreamed" (23:25), and they "steal my words every one from his neighbour" (23:30). The LORD asks, "What is the chaff to the wheat?" and "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (23:28-29). The test of 23:22 is that true prophets turn people "from their evil way". A good answer names source and effect. A weak answer says dreams are always false.
Show teacher guidance
Their dreams, borrowed words, falsehood, and lack of divine sending are contrasted with the LORD's word.
6. Why are the exiles called good figs in chapter 24?
What a good answer contains
Because the LORD says so, against appearances. The deported group with Jeconiah (24:1) are the good figs: "so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good" (24:5). He promises, "I will set mine eyes upon them for good", to bring them back, build and plant them (24:6), and "give them an heart to know me" (24:7). A good answer sees that the ones who seemed rejected are the ones God is shaping, and that the gift is a new heart. A weak answer thinks the exiles were better people.
Show teacher guidance
Verses 5 to 7 say the LORD will acknowledge them for good, return them, build and plant them, and give them a heart to know Him.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Use chapter 23 to define the difference between claiming divine authority and actually being sent with a faithful word.
Relationships and community
Use 22:3 to show that public leadership is evaluated by concrete treatment of the oppressed, not ceremony alone.
Rethink appearances
Use the two baskets to examine why immediate circumstances cannot by themselves reveal the final meaning of providence.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
No miracle this time
Read 21:1-10. Take question one and confusion one, and write the way of life and the way of death on the board.
Kings measured
Read 22:1-5 and 22:13-17. Take question two and read 22:16 twice.
Shepherds and the Branch
Read 23:1-8. Take questions three and four, then confusion two.
Chaff and wheat
Read 23:16-22 and 23:28-29. Take question five and confusion four.
Two baskets
Read chapter 24 with a bowl of good fruit and a bowl of spoiled fruit on the table. Take question six and confusion three.
Response
Read the key verse together and give out the handout.
90 minutes
Opening question
Ask the group what they would expect from a good leader. List answers to compare later with 22:3.
The king's request
Read chapter 21. Take question one and confusion one. Compare 21:8 with Deuteronomy 30:15-19.
Three kings
Read 22:1-30 in sections, one per king. Take question two. Use a simple chart: Josiah, Shallum, Jehoiakim, Coniah, with what each did.
The Branch
Read 23:1-8. Take questions three and four and confusion two. Read Isaiah 11:1-5 beside 23:5-6, and then Luke 1:32-33.
Testing prophets
Read 23:9-40 in selections. Take question five and confusion four. Ask what the fire and hammer of 23:29 do.
The figs
Read chapter 24 with fruit on the table. Take question six and confusion three, and look ahead to 29:4-7.
Application
Take one application. Return to the opening list and compare it with 22:3 and 23:5.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse, point to the take-home line, and pray for leaders to do justice and for the class to know the LORD.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Bring two baskets, one with good fruit and one with fruit that has gone bad. Explain that God told Jeremiah that the people taken far away were like the good fruit, because God would take care of them and give them hearts to know him. Read 24:7. Talk about good shepherds who care for sheep and the King God promised in 23:5. Leave out the curses on the kings.
Youth
Ask what makes a leader worth following, then read 22:13-17 and the contrast between Jehoiakim and Josiah. Point out that doing justice for the poor is called knowing God in 22:16. Discuss how to tell a true message from a comfortable one with 23:16-22. Avoid making the session about current politicians; keep the questions about character.
Adults
Give time to the historical order of the last kings and the deportation of 597 BC. Discuss what 22:16 says about the relation between justice and knowing God. Read the Branch prophecy in its setting and then in its New Testament use. On false prophets, consider how a congregation can test teaching by its source and its effect without suspicion of every new voice.
One to one
If they feel sent away, sidelined or forgotten, read chapter 24 together and let 24:5-7 speak: God can mean good in a place that looks like rejection. Ask what a heart to know God would look like for them. If they are confused by competing spiritual voices, read 23:28-29 and talk about letting God's word be the wheat.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Jeremiah 21:1–24:10
The passage in brief
In Jeremiah 21 to 24 King Zedekiah asks for a miracle against Babylon, and God says he himself will fight against the city. Jeremiah tells the kings that their task is to do justice and protect the weak, and shows how one king after another failed. God promises a righteous Branch from David who will rule well. He warns against prophets who speak their own dreams. Then he shows Jeremiah two baskets of figs and says the exiles in Babylon are the good figs he will bring back.
A verse to keep
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
Jeremiah 23:5 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What did God command the king in 22:3, and what does 22:16 call doing those things?
What will the righteous Branch of 23:5-6 do?
Why did God call the exiles good figs in 24:5-7?
This week
Do one concrete act of justice or kindness this week for someone who has no one to speak for them.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
