Honor and Shame in Jeremiah

The crux of Jeremiah’s prophecy recorded in the book of Jeremiah is the upcoming Babylonian invasion on Judah, the reason pointed out was their sin. Jeremiah’s prophecy claimed that foreign invasion would result in the destruction of the nation and exile of its inhabitants, but he asked them to yield to Babylonian rule. For this, he faced grave animosity from the recipients of his message, especially the kings and the prophets and he even suffered persecution under them. The reasons for the hostility against him are investigated in the book.Moreover, the book of Jeremiah highlights that after the invasion, the Babylonians showed a concern to Jeremiah and gave him privilege to choose whether he would go to Babylon or stay behind in Judah. Strangely, the prophet, who emphasized that the nation of Judah should yield to the Babylonian exile, when given a choice, chose to stay behind in Judah. The reasons for such a strange response are explained in this book. The study of the metaphors in Jeremiah employing cognitive linguistics methodology reveals that the concept of honor and shame play a key role in explaining the hostility toward Jeremiah and his puzzling responses.