1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hil·ki´ah, one of the priests that were in An´a·thoth in the land of Benjamin; 2 to whom the word of Yehowah occurred in the days of Jo·si´ah the son of A´mon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reigning. 3 And it kept on occurring in the days of Je·hoi´a·kim the son of Jo·si´ah, the king of Judah, until the completion of the eleventh year of Zed·e·ki´ah the son of Jo·si´ah, the king of Judah, until Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.
4 And the word of Yehowah began to occur to me, saying: 5 “Before I was forming you in the belly I knew you, and before you proceeded to come forth from the womb I sanctified you. Prophet to the nations I made you.”
6 But I said: “Alas, O Sovereign Lord Yehowah! Here I actually do not know how to speak, for I am but a boy.”
7 And Yehowah went on to say to me: “Do not say, ‘I am but a boy.’ But to all those to whom I shall send you, you should go; and everything that I shall command you, you should speak. 8 Do not be afraid because of their faces, for ‘I am with you to deliver you,’ is the utterance of Yehowah.”
9 At that Yehowah thrust his hand out and caused it to touch my mouth. Then Yehowah said to me: “Here I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, I have commissioned you this day to be over the nations and over the kingdoms, in order to uproot and to pull down and to destroy and to tear down, to build and to plant.”
11 And the word of Yehowah continued to occur to me, saying: “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?”
So I said: “An offshoot of an almond tree is what I am seeing.”
12 And Yehowah went on to say to me: “You have seen well, for I am keeping awake concerning my word in order to carry it out.”
13 And the word of Yehowah proceeded to occur to me the second time, saying: “What are you seeing?”
So I said: “A widemouthed cooking pot blown upon is what I am seeing, and its mouth is away from the north.”
14 At this Yehowah said to me: “Out of the north the calamity will be loosened against all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For ‘here I am calling for all the families of the kingdoms of the north,’ is the utterance of Yehowah; ‘and they will certainly come and place each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all her walls round about and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will speak with them my judgments over all their badness, in that they have left me and they keep making sacrificial smoke to other gods and bowing down to the works of their own hands.’
17 “And as for you, you should gird up your hips, and you must rise up and speak to them everything that I myself command you. Do not be struck with any terror because of them, in order that I may not strike you with terror before them. 18 But as for me, here I have made you today a fortified city and an iron pillar and copper walls against all the land, toward the kings of Judah, toward her princes, toward her priests and toward the people of the land. 19 And they will be certain to fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for ‘I am with you,’ is the utterance of Yehowah, ‘to deliver you.’”
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