Jeremiah 1:4-19

Common English Bible

Call of Jeremiah

⁴The Lord’s word came to me:

⁵“Before I created you in the womb I knew you;
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I made you a prophet to the nations.”
⁶“Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak
    because I’m only a child.”
⁷The Lord responded,
    “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’
        Where I send you, you must go;
        what I tell you, you must say.
⁸Don’t be afraid of them,
    because I’m with you to rescue you,”
        declares the Lord.
⁹Then the Lord stretched out his hand,
    touched my mouth, and said to me,
    “I’m putting my words in your mouth.
¹⁰This very day I appoint you over nations and empires,
    to dig up and pull down,
    to destroy and demolish,
    to build and plant.”

Jeremiah’s mission confirmed

¹¹The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I said, “A branch of an almond^[a] tree.”

¹²The Lord then said, “You are right, for I’m watching over^[b] my word until it is fulfilled.” ¹³The Lord asked me again, “What do you see?”

I said, “A pot boiling over from the north.”

¹⁴The Lord said to me, “Trouble will erupt from the north against the people of this land.”

¹⁵I’m calling for all the tribes of great nations from the north, says the Lord, and they will set up their rulers by the entrances of Jerusalem, on its walls, and in every city of Judah. ¹⁶I will declare my judgment against them for doing evil: for abandoning me, worshipping other gods, and trusting in the works of their hands. ¹⁷But you must prepare for battle and be ready to utter every word I command you. Don’t be frightened before them, or I will frighten you before them. ¹⁸Today I have made you an armed city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the entire land—the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and all its people. ¹⁹They will attack you, but they won’t defeat you, because I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.

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