1. The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.
2. the Lord’s word came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4. Now the Lord’s word came to me, saying,
5. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.Before you were born, I sanctified you.I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6. Then I said, “Ah, Lord the Lord! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”
7. But the Lord said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you.
8. Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says the Lord.
9. Then the Lord stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
10. Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
11. Moreover the Lord’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”