2. The Lord’s word came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of Judah’s King Josiah, Amon’s son,
3. and throughout the rule of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, Josiah’s son, when the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile.
4. The Lord’s word came to me:
5. "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."
6. "Ah, Lord God," I said, "I don’t know how to speakbecause I’m only a child."
7. 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.