My name is Jeremiah. I am a priest, and my father Hilkiah and everyone else in my family are from Anathoth in the territory of the Benjamin tribe. This book contains the things that the Lord told me to say.

The Lord first spoke to me in the thirteenth year that Josiah was king of Judah,

and he continued to speak to me during the rule of Josiah's son Jehoiakim. The last time the Lord spoke to me was in the fifth month of the eleventh year that Josiah's son Zedekiah was king. That was also when the people of Jerusalem were taken away as prisoners.

The Lord Chooses Jeremiah

The Lord said:

“Jeremiah, I am your Creator, and before you were born, I chose you to speak for me to the nations.”

I replied, “I'm not a good speaker, Lord, and I'm too young.”

“Don't say you're too young,” the Lord answered. “If I tell you to go and speak to someone, then go! And when I tell you what to say, don't leave out a word!

I promise to be with you and keep you safe, so don't be afraid.”

The Lord reached out his hand, then he touched my mouth and said, “I am giving you the words to say,

and I am sending you with authority to speak to the nations for me. You will tell them of doom and destruction, and of rising and rebuilding again.”

The Lord showed me something in a vision. Then he asked, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “A branch of almonds that ripen early.”

Then the Lord showed me something else and asked, “What do you see now?” I answered, “I see a pot of boiling water in the north, and it's about to spill out toward us.”

The Lord said: I will pour out destruction all over the land.

Just watch while I send for the kings of the north. They will attack and capture Jerusalem and other towns, then set up their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah, get ready! Go and tell the people what I command you to say. Don't be frightened by them, or I will make you terrified while they watch.

My power will make you strong like a fortress or a column of iron or a wall of bronze. You will oppose all of Judah, including its kings and leaders, its priests and people.

to go to Jerusalem and tell everyone that he had said: When you were my young bride, you loved me and followed me through the barren desert.

You belonged to me alone, like the first part of the harvest, and I severely punished those who mistreated you.

and I, the Lord, will speak. I was never unfair to your ancestors, but they left me and became worthless by following worthless idols.

I brought you here to my land, where food is abundant, but you made my land filthy with your sins.

You, my people, have sinned in two ways— you have rejected me, the source of life-giving water, and you've tried to collect water in cracked and leaking pits dug in the ground.

People of Israel, you weren't born slaves; you were captured in war.

Soldiers from the Egyptian towns of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skulls.

It's all your own fault! You stopped following me, the Lord your God,

Your own sins will punish you, because it was a bitter mistake for you to reject me without fear of punishment. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken.