How did Jeremiah die?
The Bible tells us a great deal about how Jeremiah lived and almost nothing about how he died. The last time Scripture shows him, he is in Egypt, warning a group of refugees who had dragged him there against his advice — and after that the record simply stops.
Scripture Leaves It Unrecorded
The closing section of Jeremiah's book follows him from the ruins of Jerusalem into Egypt, and then breaks off without an account of his death. One summary of these chapters traces the whole sequence and ends with the plain fact:
Morrish Bible DictionaryJeremiah 40 – 45. These chapters give the history of the remnant left in the land under Gedaliah, Jeremiah being with them. Gedaliah was murdered by Ishmael, sent by the king of the Ammonites, and the people were carried away. They were however rescued by Johanan, and Jeremiah was requested to inquire of God for them, the people promising obedience. God told them to stay in the land; but they refused to obey and went into Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them. There they kept on practising idolatry, though warned by Jeremiah. The end of Jeremiah is not recorded.
Tradition Says He Was Stoned
Outside the Bible there is a story about his death, and commentators pass it on while marking clearly that it is not Scripture. One writer sets the tradition and the silence side by side:
Arend RemmersWhen Gedaliah (who was appointed governor by the king's command) was murdered, the Jews fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians' vengeance — although Jeremiah had warned them not to — and they forced Jeremiah and Baruch to go with them (Jer. 41 – 43). This is where Jeremiah continued his prophetic service, in the city of Tahpanhes (Jer. 43:8 – 44:30), and this is where, according to tradition, he was stoned to death five years after Jerusalem's destruction. The Bible remains silent regarding the death of this great prophet, who lived and served in the last forty years of the kingdom of Judah.
Commentators differ over how much weight to give this. Others say only that he "apparently" or "very probably" ended his days in Egypt, without naming a manner of death.
Carried Into Egypt Against His Word
He did not choose the place where he died. The survivors asked him for God's guidance, were told to stay in Judah, refused, and took the prophet with them:
H. L. RossierIn their pride the leaders do not want to accept humiliation, and they treat the word of God as a lie... Obstinate in their purpose to the end, they revolt against God and take with them Jeremiah and faithful Baruch, not wanting to leave behind these witnesses to their disobedience and unbelief. They forget only one thing — that they are carrying with them the Word that condemns them. Jeremiah continues to the end in his faithful exercise of the gift of prophecy that God had entrusted to him. At Tahpanhes, just as at Jerusalem, he is a witness of the true God.
Spared Where Another Prophet Was Killed
Earlier in his life he came very near to a violent death, and God prevented it. Jeremiah 26 places his escape next to the execution of another prophet, Urijah, who preached the same message, fled to Egypt, was hunted down and killed by King Jehoiakim:
William KellyThey fetched Urijah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and threw his dead body into the graves of the common people. Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he should not be given into the hand of the people to put him to death (verses 21-24). So, while there was the greatest danger that Jeremiah would suffer martyrdom as Urijah had done, the Lord watched over him. It was an honour to Urijah to die, but it was a mercy to Judah that Jeremiah was not put to death.
An Ending That Matched His Life
The silence of Scripture fits the shape of everything that went before it. His work closed as it had run — rejected, unheard, far from home:
Georges AndréThe prophet, rejected and despised as his Master would later be, apparently finishes his days in that land of exile. No details are given in the Word. His end is as sad as his lonely life had been. Later, John the Baptist will finish his course in a similar way — put into prison and then beheaded.
Summary
- Unrecorded. Scripture never states how or when Jeremiah died; the narrative simply stops after his ministry in Egypt.
- Traditional. A tradition outside the Bible says he was stoned to death at Tahpanhes about five years after Jerusalem fell — reported by commentators, but not confirmed by Scripture.
- Forced. He ended up in Egypt because disobedient survivors carried him and Baruch there, taking with them the very word that condemned them.
- Guarded. Where the prophet Urijah was hunted down and killed for the same message, God's hand kept Jeremiah alive — the sparing was a mercy to Judah.
- Faithful. Whatever the manner of his death, he kept prophesying to the end, a witness to the true God at Tahpanhes just as he had been at Jerusalem.