Jeremiah prophesies in the Temple that the Temple will be sacked, and the priests and false prophets want to kill Jeremiah for it, but the people are persuaded that if they do kill Jeremiah, and he is a prophet, they will have innocent blood on their hands. There is precedent among the prophets for this in Micah and a counterexample in Uriah.

Jeremiah puts a yoke on his neck to warn the people of the subjugation Judah will experience, and to tell the envoys of Judah's neighbors that they must all submit to Babylon or die. The vessels of the Temple, which the false prophets are predicting will come back, are in fact, gone until God restores them.

Jeremiah pronounces judgment on Jehoiachin and criticizes all the kings but Josiah. He also refers to the entire people returning to Israel, as well as a righteous branch of David who will rule there. This is a messianic prophecy, and it refers to Jesus. Jeremiah goes after the false prophets as well.

Jeremiah is shown a basket of figs, some good and some bad. These figs are like the people of Israel, and God will restore them to the land. The bad people, however, will be treated like bad figs by God.

Jeremiah sees a potter whose clay has not turned out the way he wanted to, and God uses this to explain his actions. God will rework Israel into a different type of vessel if Israel will change its path, which Paul would echo in 2 Timothy 2:20-21. This does not match what the priests and false prophets were saying at the time, but those people, both then and now are not guaranteed to proclaim what is in the Bible and the catechism. Jeremiah shatters a flask to emphasize the analogy.

Jeremiah is placed in stocks by Pashur son of Immer, and the people seek to kill Jeremiah, for prophesying things like Israel will be captured, but people will die unless they surrender. Even Jeremiah's own family is against him, and Jeremiah is despairing more than at any other point in the Bible.

At this point, the timeline is interrupted and goes back to the reign of Josiah.

Jeremiah is distressed by the fact that the people are against him, and has no wife to comfort him in his distress, since children would not be safe in this time. Jeremiah prophesies that if Jerusalem keeps the Sabbath, kings will rule in Jerusalem and people will come bearing offerings, but if they do not keep the Sabbath, the city will be consumed by fire.