Degradation and disregard for God to the left, cruelty and power-mongering in religious disguise (and thus even more contemptuous of God) on the right, while the country in the middle was in chaos and on the brink of collapse . . . only 2,600 years earlier. And the weeping, painfully accurate prophet no-one listened to was right in the middle of it. . . .

Duane A. Garrett. Understanding Jeremiah: Its Setting, Composition, and Message. 256p., $24.99, Kregel Academic.

“I have come to appreciate Jeremiah the prophet above any person of the Old Testament . . . because his humanity shines so clearly through his book” (p. 4).

The book of Jeremiah is full of beauty and brokenness, joy and sorrow. These themes are interwoven throughout the book, often without context or introduction, which can leave the present reader without the full picture of what the passage conveys. In Understanding Jeremiah: Its Setting, Composition, and Message, Duane A. Garrett steps back from verse-by-verse commentary to provide a bird’s-eye view of the book, giving rich background information to these prophetic writings. This three-thousand-foot view of Jeremiah gives specific insight into:

• the politics, governance, and key players in Judah, Israel, and the surrounding nations
• Jeremiah’s life and its witness to holy living
• the structure and composition of the book of Jeremiah
• the broader message of Jeremiah