Day Fifty-Eight -- The words of Jeremiah end here.

Jeremiah 48:1 to Lamentations 1:22

So where does Jeremiah end up once the Babylonians have sacked Jerusalem?  Actually, the answer was contained in yesterday's reading.  Although the non-deported Jews had asked Jeremiah to inquire of the LORD what they should do, and Jeremiah had been instructed to tell them to remain in the land, they would not believe him.  Instead, they decided to flee to Egypt and they dragged Jeremiah along with them.  It was there that Jeremiah spoke his final prophecies, including an extended message to Babylon concerning its future destruction.  He also spoke against the Jews who had taken him by force to Egypt, condemning them for their idolatry and provoking the anger of the women whom he criticized for burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings.

Although scripture does not tell of his final fate, Jeremiah most probably died in Egypt, perhaps even at the hands of his fellow Jews.  After all, he had made himself a number of enemies among his own people since he downplayed the role of priests and criticized the prophets as acting only in their own self-interest.  Jeremiah's final words to Babylon were written on a scroll and carried there by Seraiah when he went into exile with King Zedekiah.  Jeremiah instructed Seraiah to read the scroll aloud in Babylon and then to tie a stone to the scroll and symbolically throw it into the Euphrates river, and as it sank in the water to declare "So will Babylon sink to rise no more. . ."