¹The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, from the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

²to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

³It happened in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah, until the finishing of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah the king of Judah, until Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.

⁴The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

⁵Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I set you apart; a prophet to the nations I made you.

⁶I said, Alas, Adonai Yahweh, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am a boy.

⁷Yahweh said to me, Do not say, I am a boy; for to all whom I send you, you will go, and all that I command you, you will speak.

⁸Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, the utterance of Yahweh.

⁹Yahweh stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, today I have appointed you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to tear down, to build and to plant.

¹¹The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, What do you see, Jeremiah? I said, I see a shoot of an almond tree.

¹²Yahweh said to me, You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to bring it about.

¹³The word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? I said, I see a pot blown upon, and its face is away from the face of the north.

¹⁴Yahweh said to me, From the north the disaster will be loosed upon all who dwell in the land.

¹⁵For behold, I am summoning all the clans of the kingdoms of the north, the utterance of Yahweh; and they will come, and each one will set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all her walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

¹⁶I will speak my justice with them concerning all their evil, because they forsook me and made sacrifices smoke to other gods, and bowed down to the works of their hands.

¹⁷And you, gird up your loins, and rise and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at their faces, lest I dismay you before their faces.

¹⁸And I, behold, today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against all the land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

¹⁹They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, the utterance of Yahweh, to deliver you.