Jeremiah · Ezekiel — N=1

Book-group distillation (the prophets of exile: judgment, interiorized covenant, and individual responsibility). Source: JPS 1917 via Sefaria API. Quotes pending Phase 7 audit. Per-verse depth = Stage-B. Tags & method: ../00-methodology.md.

Book-group role

Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak into and out of the catastrophe of exile. Their great theological advances are the interiorization of the covenant — the law written on the heart, a new heart and a new spirit — and the insistence on individual moral responsibility: no one is condemned for an ancestor's sin, and God desires the wicked to turn and live, not to die.

Atomic statements

JE-C1: God's love is everlasting; He draws His people with affection. (FOUNDATIONAL / HESED)

• Jer 31:3: "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; Therefore with affection have I drawn thee."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: hesed (everlasting love)

JE-C2: God will make a new covenant — the law written on the heart, not on tablets. (FOUNDATIONAL / COVENANT+TORAH)

• Jer 31:31: "Behold, the days come… that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…"
• Jer 31:33: "…I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people…"
• Stance: promise · Importance: core · Untranslatable: berit, torah

JE-C3: Each person dies for their own sin; children do not bear the parents' guilt. (FOUNDATIONAL / TESHUVAH+JUSTICE)

• Jer 31:29–30: "…they shall say no more: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.' But every one shall die for his own iniquity…"
• Ezek 18:20: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father with him…"
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

JE-C4: All souls are God's; He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires that they turn and live. (FOUNDATIONAL / TESHUVAH+HESED)

• Ezek 18:4: "Behold, all souls are Mine…"
• Ezek 18:23: "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?… and not rather that he should return from his ways, and live?"
• Ezek 18:32: "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth… wherefore turn yourselves, and live."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: teshuvah

JE-C5: Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. (FOUNDATIONAL / TESHUVAH)

• Ezek 18:31: "Cast away from you all your transgressions… and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"
• Stance: command · Importance: core · Untranslatable: ruach (new spirit)

JE-C6: The wicked who turns from sin lives; the righteous who turns to sin dies — the present choice governs. (OPERATIONAL / TESHUVAH+JUSTICE)

• Ezek 18:21: "But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes… he shall surely live, he shall not die."
• Stance: assert · Importance: supporting

JE-C7: God will gather and restore the exiles, turning mourning into joy. (SUPPORTING / HOPE+HESED)

• Jer 31:13: "…For I will turn their mourning into joy, And will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow."
• Stance: promise · Importance: supporting

Step 4 — Clusters

Cluster	Atomic statements	Intent
Everlasting love & new covenant	C1, C2	God's enduring love; the covenant interiorized
Individual responsibility	C3, C6	Each answers for their own deeds; the present choice rules
God desires return, not death	C4, C5	All souls are God's; turn and live; make a new heart
Restoration	C7	Mourning turned to joy

Step 5 — Internal tensions

• Inherited consequence (the covenant curses falling on a generation) vs individual responsibility (C3): Ezekiel 18 explicitly corrects the proverb of inherited guilt — a development within the tradition, not a flat contradiction.

Step 6 — Synthesized book principles

JE-P1: God's love is everlasting, and the covenant is to be written on the heart

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love." God promises a new covenant — "I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it." Fidelity is to become interior disposition, not merely external rule.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: COVENANT+HESED · Covers: C1, C2 · Evidence: Jer 31:3, 31:31–33 · Untranslatable: hesed, berit, torah

JE-P2: Each person is morally responsible for their own life

"Every one shall die for his own iniquity"; "the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father." Guilt and merit are personal, not inherited — a decisive affirmation of individual moral agency.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: TESHUVAH+JUSTICE · Covers: C3, C6 · Evidence: Jer 31:29–30, Ezek 18:20–21

JE-P3: God desires return, not death — repentance is always open

"All souls are Mine"; God has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked," but desires that they "turn… and live." "Make you a new heart and a new spirit." The door of teshuvah stands open to all, and the present turning governs the future.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: TESHUVAH+HESED · Covers: C4, C5 · Evidence: Ezek 18:4, 18:23–32, 18:31 · Untranslatable: teshuvah, ruach

JE-P4: Beyond judgment, God restores and turns mourning into joy

God will gather the scattered and "turn their mourning into joy." Exile and consequence are not God's last word for His people.

• Tier: SUPPORTING · Domain: HOPE+HESED · Covers: C7 · Evidence: Jer 31:13

Step 7 — Traceability

Principle	Atomic statements	Verses
JE-P1	C1, C2	Jer 31:3, 31:31–33
JE-P2	C3, C6	Jer 31:29–30, Ezek 18:20–21
JE-P3	C4, C5	Ezek 18:4, 18:23–32
JE-P4	C7	Jer 31:13

Step 8 — Quality

• Coverage (book-level): the distinctive contributions of Jeremiah/Ezekiel (everlasting love, the new covenant, the new heart, individual responsibility, return-not-death, restoration) are captured. The oracles, the temple visions, and the laments are Stage-B for per-passage depth.
• Principles: 4 (within range).
• Traceability: 100%.

Step 9 — Validation

• Standalone comprehension: JE-P2 (individual moral responsibility — not bearing another's guilt) is a strong cross-tradition convergence candidate and an important ancient articulation of personal agency (note the structural resonance with the Buddhist "each is heir of their own deeds," though the warrants — a judging personal God vs impersonal karma — diverge). JE-P3 (the open door of repentance; God desires life, not death) is a powerful, frame-portable claim of mercy, with a theistic warrant. JE-P1 (covenant written on the heart) is distinctively Abrahamic in warrant.