The Hebrew Prophets

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

to whom the LORD’s word came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

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.

Now the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

“Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Then I said, “Ah, Lord the LORD! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”

But the LORD said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.

Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.

Then the LORD stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.”

the LORD’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.”

Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.

For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the LORD; “and they shall come, and they shall each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says the LORD, “to deliver you.”

the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

“Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness to the LORD, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them,”’ says the LORD.”

Hear the LORD’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!

Thus says the LORD, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Neither did they say, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’