Jeremiah (1):

jer-e-mi'-a

(a) yirmeyahu, or

(b) shorter form, yirmeyah, both differently explained as "Yah establishes (so Giesebrecht), whom Yahweh casts," i.e. possibly, as Gesenius suggests, "appoints" (A. B. Davidson in HDB, II, 569a), and "Yahweh looseneth" (the womb); see BDB:

The form (b) is used of Jeremiah the prophet only in Jer 27:1; 28:5,6,10,11,12 b, 15; 29:1; Ezr 1:1; Da 9:2, while the other is found 116 times in Jeremiah alone. In 1 Esdras 1:28,32,47,57; 2Esdras 2:18, English Versions of the Bible has "Jeremy," so the King James Version in 2 Macc 2:1,5,7; Mt 2:17; 27:9; in Mt 16:14, the King James Version has "Jeremias," but the Revised Version (British and American) in 2 Maccabees and Matthew has "Jeremiah."

(1) The prophet. See special article Prophecy; Prophets (1). Of the following, (2), (3) and (4) have form (a) above; the others the form (b).

(2) Father of Hamutal (Hamital), the mother of King Jehoahaz and King Jehoiakim (2Ki 23:31; 24:18 parallel Jer 52:1).

(3) A Rechabite (Jer 35:3).

(4) In 1Ch 12:13 (Hebrew 14), a Gadite.

(5) In 1Ch 12:10 (Hebrew 11), a Gadite.

(6) In 1Ch 12:4 (Hebrew 5), a Benjamite(?) or Judean. (4), (5) and (6) all joined David at Ziklag.

(7) Head of a Manassite family (1Ch 5:24).

(8) A priest who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah (Ne 10:2), probably the same as he of 12:34 who took part in the procession at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem.

(9) A priest who went to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel from exile and became head of a priestly family of that name (Ne 12:1).

Written by David Francis Roberts