Jeremiah 1

Jeremiah 1:1

The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, that famous high-priest, who found the original book of the law; which Jeremy was one of the priests that dwelt in Anathoth, a town within three miles of Jerusalem, which, in the tribe of Benjamin, was allotted peculiarly to the priests.

Jeremiah 1:2

3. To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah, &c., in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, &c., unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, &c., unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

To whom the word of the Lord came, in the thirteenth year of king Josiah; and continued long with him; insomuch as he prophesied one and forty years, under the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah, besides those years, which he lived after the captivity.

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Before ever thou wert conceived in the womb of thy mother, I foreordained thee, in mine eternal counsel, to be a worthy instrument of my glory; and, before thou wert born into the world, I set thee apart to this great service; and predetermined thee, to be a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:6

Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

Then said I, alas, O Lord God! behold, I am unfit, and unable, and unworthy to carry thy great messages to the kings and princes of this world: I am a very child, both in years and abilities.

Jeremiah 1:7

But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

And the Lord said unto me, Never plead thine age or disability; for I will give thee a mouth and wisdom: I will send thee forth on my errand, and furnish thee sufficiently for the service thou goest about; go therefore to all that I send thee, and speak all that I command thee.

Jeremiah 1:10

See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

See I have this day made thee a Prophet, not to the Jews only, but to the nations round about also; to several countries and kingdoms; with commission, to deliver my messages, concerning the destroying and rooting out, the planting and establishing, of their dominions and sovereignties.

Jeremiah 1:12

Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen; for I will hasten my word to perform it.

It is true: thou seest indeed an almond tree, in a figure and representation of that haste, which I will make in the performance of my judgments; for, as that is the first tree which puts forth, so it well betokens the speed of my executions.

Jeremiah 1:13

And the face thereof was toward the north.

And the forepart thereof to the fireward, was by the situation of it, towards the north.

Jeremiah 1:14

Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Then the Lord said, This cauldron or boiling pot is Judea; this fire is the affliction and vastation, which it shall undergo; and from out of the north, even from the Babylonians, shall this desolation come upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Jeremiah 1:15

For lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; &c.

For, lo, I will call the neighbouring kingdoms of the north, in assistance to the Babylonians; and they shall come, &c.

Jeremiah 1:17

Therefore gird up thy loins.

Therefore, stir up thy courage, and rouse up thy spirits.

Jeremiah 1:18

For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land.

For, behold, I do this day confirm thee against all the opposition, which shall be made unto thee: thou shalt be more surely defenced from henceforth, than a strongly walled city; more firm than a pillar of iron, or walls of brass, &c.