Jeremiah 1

Chapter 1

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

¹The words of ^aJeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in ^bAnathoth in the land of Benjamin,

²to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of ^aJosiah the son of ^bAmon, king of Judah, in the ^cthirteenth year of his reign.

³It came also in the days of ^aJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of ^bZedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

⁵“Before I ^aformed you in the womb I knew you,

And ^bbefore you were born I consecrated you;

I have ^cappointed you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶Then ^aI said, “Alas, Lord ¹God!

Behold, I do not know how to speak,

Because ^bI am a youth.”

⁷But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’

^aBecause everywhere I send you, you shall go,

And ^ball that I command you, you shall speak.

⁸“^aDo not be afraid of them,

For ^bI am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.

⁹Then the Lord stretched out His hand and ^atouched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have ^bput My words in your mouth.

¹⁰“See, ^aI have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms,

^bTo pluck up and to break down,

To destroy and to overthrow,

^cTo build and to plant.”

The Almond Rod and Boiling Pot

¹¹The word of the Lord came to me saying, “What do you see, ^aJeremiah?” And I said, “I see a rod of an ¹almond tree.”

¹²Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for ^aI am ¹watching over My word to perform it.”

¹³The word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, “^aWhat do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling ^bpot, facing away from the north.”

¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “^aOut of the north the evil ¹will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁵“For, behold, I am calling ^aall the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares the Lord; “and they will come and they will ^bset each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the ^ccities of Judah.

¹⁶“I will ¹pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have ^aforsaken Me and have ^2boffered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the ^cworks of their own hands.

¹⁷“Now, ^agird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. ^bDo not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them.

¹⁸“Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land.

¹⁹“They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for ^aI am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.