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  • Jeremiah 1:1

    Introduction

    These are the words of Jeremiah, Hilkiah’s son, who was one of the priests from Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

  • Jeremiah 1:4-14

    Call of Jeremiah

    The Lord’s word came to me:

    “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.”
    “Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak
        because I’m only a child.”
    The Lord responded,
        “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’
            Where I send you, you must go;
            what I tell you, you must say.
    Don’t be afraid of them,
        because I’m with you to rescue you,”
            declares the Lord.
    Then the Lord stretched out his hand,
        touched my mouth, and said to me,
        “I’m putting my words in your mouth.
    10 This 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

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

    I said, “A branch of an almond tree.”

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

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

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