1The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, among the priests who were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, ²to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ³It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

⁴And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^a

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you came out from the womb I consecrated you;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

⁶Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look, I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth.”^b ⁷But Yahweh said to me, “You must not say, ‘I am a youth,’^c for to whomever^d I send you, you will go, and whatever^e I command you, you will speak. ⁸Do not be afraid of them,^f for I am with you to deliver you,” declares^g Yahweh. ⁹Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me,

“Look, I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, I appoint you this day over the nations

and over the kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

and to destroy and to tear down,

to build and to plant.”

Yahweh Confirms Jeremiah’s Call

¹¹And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^h “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I am seeing a branch of an almond tree.” ¹²Then Yahweh said to me, “You did well to see, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

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Footnotes

aLiterally “to say”
bOr “boy”
cOr “boy”
dLiterally “all of whom”
eLiterally “all of that”
fLiterally “you must not be afraid from the faces of them”
gLiterally “declaration of”
hLiterally “to say”