Jeremiah 1
The prophet Jeremiah, a priest from Anathoth, received God's call to prophethood in the thirteenth year of King Josiah's reign. God told Jeremiah that He knew him before birth and sanctified him as a prophet to the nations, despite Jeremiah's initial hesitation due to his youth. God reassured Jeremiah that He would be with him and deliver him from fear, and appointed him to root up and destroy, as well as to build and plant. Jeremiah then received visions from God, including a staff keeping watch and a cooking pot, signifying God's watchful care and the impending evil from the north that would spread over the earth.
1The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin2The word of the Lord, which came to him in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign3and which came to him in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, even until the completion of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, even until the transmigration of Jerusalem in the fifth month4And the word of the Lord came to me, saying5"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.6And I said: "Alas, alas, alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am a boy.7And the Lord said to me: "Do not choose to say, ‘I am a boy.’ For you shall go forth to everyone to whom I will send you. And you shall speak all that I will command you8You should not be afraid before their face. For I am with you, so that I may deliver you," says the Lord9And the Lord put forth his hand, and he touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me: "Behold, I have placed my words in your mouth10Behold, today I have appointed you over nations and over kingdoms, so that you may root up, and pull down, and destroy, and scatter, and so that you may build and plant.11And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a staff, keeping watch.12And the Lord said to me: "You have seen well. For I will keep watch over my word, so that I may accomplish it.13And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a cooking pot upon a fire, and its face is before the face of the north.14And the Lord said to me: "From the north, an evil will spread over all the inhabitants of the earth15For behold, I will call together all the close associates of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord. And they will arrive, and each one of them will place his throne at the entrance to the gates of Jerusalem, and over all its surrounding walls, and over all the cities of Judah16And I will speak my judgments with them, concerning all the wickedness of those who have forsaken me, and who have offered libations to strange gods, and who have adored the work of their own hands17Therefore, you should gird your waist, and rise up, and speak to them everything that I instruct you. You should not have dread before their face. For I will cause you to be unafraid of their countenance18For certainly, this day, I have made you like a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and a brass wall, over all the land, to the kings of Judah, to its leaders, and to the priests, and to the people of the land19And they will make war against you, but they will not prevail. For I am with you, says the Lord, so that I may free you.
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