Jeremiah 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Beginning about 627 BC, the thirteenth year of King Josiah of Judah, as Assyrian power collapsed and Babylon rose
Location
Anathoth, a priestly village about three miles northeast of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem itself, the capital of the small kingdom of Judah
Audience
The people of Judah and Jerusalem in the decades before the Babylonian conquest, and later readers living through the exile that followed
Situation
God calls Jeremiah while he is still young, telling him he was set apart before birth to be a prophet to the nations, and Jeremiah objects that he cannot speak. He is then shown two images, an almond branch and a boiling pot tipping from the north, which announce that God is watching over his word and that disaster is coming from that direction.
Key Background
Jeremiah came from a priestly family in Anathoth, the village where King Solomon had exiled the priest Abiathar centuries earlier, which placed him outside the Jerusalem temple establishment he would spend his life criticizing. The almond vision works as a play on words in Hebrew, since the word for almond tree sounds like the word for watching, and the almond was the first tree to blossom each year, making it a natural emblem of something about to happen. Invaders reached Judah from the north because the desert to the east made a direct approach impossible, so armies from Mesopotamia followed the Fertile Crescent curve and came down through Syria, which is why a threat from the north was a recognized shorthand for invasion.
The of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in in the territory of Benjamin.
to during the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his rule.
It also came during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, and continued until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah — right up to the of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
Yahweh's word came to me:
"Before I you in the womb, I already you. Before you came out into the world, I you out as I appointed you as a to the nations."
I said, "Oh no, my Lord Yahweh — look, I don't know how to speak! I'm just a
But Yahweh said to me, "Don't say 'I'm just a kid.' You'll go wherever I send you, and you'll say whatever I tell you to say.
Don't be afraid of them, because I am with you to you" — this is
Then Yahweh reached out his hand and my and Yahweh said to me, "Look — I've put my in your
See — today I'm giving you nations and kingdoms: to and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and to plant."
Yahweh's word came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "I see the branch of an
Yahweh said to me, "You've seen well. I am my word to make sure it happens."
Yahweh's word came to me a second time: "What do you see?" I said, "I see a tilting away from the north."
Yahweh said to me, "From the north, will be out on everyone living in this land.
Because look — I'm all the clans of the northern kingdoms" — this is Yahweh's declaration. "They'll come and each one will set up his at the entrance of Jerusalem's gates, against all her surrounding walls, and against every town in Judah.
I will pronounce my against them for all their wickedness — because they me, to other gods, and bowed down to what their own hands had made.
"So Stand up and tell them everything I command you. Don't in front of them, or I'll make you in front of them.
Look at what I've made you today: a an bronze walls — standing against the whole land. Against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and all the people of the land.
They will fight against you, but they you, because I am with you to you" — this is Yahweh's declaration.