Jeremiah 1

Before I Formed Thee

A young priest from Anathoth is told that he was known and appointed before birth, and is sent to tear down and to build among kings, priests, and people who will fight him.

The word first came in the thirteenth year of Josiah (626 B.C. by the Bible Dictionary); verses 2–3 summarize the whole ministry, to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Verses 1–3 are the book's title page. They name the prophet, his town, and the span of his work: from the thirteenth year of King Josiah, through Jehoiakim, to the end of…

Verses 1–3 are the book's title page. They name the prophet, his town, and the span of his work: from the thirteenth year of King Josiah, through Jehoiakim, to the end of Zedekiah's eleventh year, when Jerusalem fell. That is 626–586 B.C., “a period of over 40 years.” The book is not in order of time; arranged by reign, its chapters 1–6 belong to Josiah's.

Jeremiah came from a priestly family at Anathoth, a few miles northeast of Jerusalem. The rest of the chapter is his own account, in the first person, of how he was called: the call itself (verses 4–8), the touch that consecrates him (verses 9–10), and two visions that confirm it, an almond branch and a boiling pot (verses 11–19). It ends with a promise that the prophet will be attacked and will not be overcome.

The Church's chapter heading sums it up: Jeremiah “was foreordained to be a prophet unto the nations—He is called as a mortal to declare the word of the Lord.” This chapter is also where the Book of Mormon's Jerusalem comes into view: Lehi prophesied in the same city while Jeremiah was there, and Nephi's brass plates held “many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah” (1 Ne. 5:13).

The thread through the chapter

Jeremiah 1 answers one question: what does it take to speak for God to people who will not listen?

Jeremiah 1 answers one question: what does it take to speak for God to people who will not listen? The answer comes in three layers. First, the call goes back before his birth (verse 5), so it does not depend on his age or ability. Second, the words are the Lord's, put in his mouth by the Lord's own hand (verse 9). Third, the Lord's word is not just a message but “a power that carries out His will”: it will be “hastened” to completion (verse 12), and the prophet is made a fortified city against those who oppose it (verse 18).

The assignment is stated in verse 10: to “root out,” “pull down,” “destroy,” and “throw down,” and then to “build” and to “plant.” The four verbs of ruin come first and the two of renewal after them, which on one reading signals that Jeremiah's work would be, “for the most part,” proclaiming judgment. The two visions show both sides: the almond branch says the Lord is watching over His word, and the boiling pot facing from the north says what that word will do.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–3

Title and dates

In plain words

These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah, and kept coming under Jehoiakim and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, when Jerusalem was taken captive in the fifth month.

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

Context #

A priest from Anathoth

Jeremiah was “born of a priestly family in Anathoth,” “a town of the priests that lay a few miles northeast of Jerusalem in the tribal territory of Benjamin.”

Jeremiah was “born of a priestly family in Anathoth,” “a town of the priests that lay a few miles northeast of Jerusalem in the tribal territory of Benjamin.” The prophet who will be set against “the priests thereof” (verse 18) is one of them by birth.

His father Hilkiah is probably not the high priest Hilkiah who found the book of the law in Josiah's reign (2 Kgs. 22:8). On one reading the identification lacks “sufficient grounds”: Hilkiah was a common name, and the high priest would have lived in Jerusalem, not Anathoth. The verse says only that he was one “of the priests that were in Anathoth,” and nothing in the chapter depends on it.

Sources: “Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

2 To whom the word of the LORD came 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, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

Context #

Three reigns, one prophet

The heading dates the call to Josiah's thirteenth year, 626 B.C. by the Bible Dictionary's reckoning, and Jeremiah later counts his ministry from the same year: “From the…

The heading dates the call to Josiah's thirteenth year, 626 B.C. by the Bible Dictionary's reckoning, and Jeremiah later counts his ministry from the same year: “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day” (Jer. 25:3). The Church's student manual gives “approximately 627 B.C.” and says he began his labors “as a youth.” The two dates differ by a year, and the heading doesn't settle it.

The heading names three kings and skips two, Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin, who each reigned three months (2 Kgs. 23:31; 2 Kgs. 24:8). It also stops at the fall of Jerusalem, though Jeremiah's work went on after it: he was taken to Egypt with the survivors (Jer. 43:6–7). So verses 1–3 frame his ministry in Jerusalem, not his whole life. Because the book is not arranged in this order, the chapters after this one move among these reigns; each chapter's date is stated at its head.

Sources: “Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 4–10

The call

In plain words

The Lord said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah answered, “Lord God, I do not know how to speak. I am only a boy.” The Lord said, “Do not say ‘I am only a boy.’ You will go to everyone I send you to, and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to rescue you.” Then the Lord reached out and touched Jeremiah's mouth and said, “I have put my words in your mouth. Today I have set you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

4 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Related Scriptures #

Lehi's Jerusalem

Jeremiah was still prophesying in Jerusalem when Lehi was called there.

Jeremiah was still prophesying in Jerusalem when Lehi was called there. Nephi dates his father's call to “the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah,” when “there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent” (1 Ne. 1:4); Jeremiah was the leading prophet in the city, “serving with Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Lehi, and others.” Nephi's brass plates held “many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah” (1 Ne. 5:13).

Jeremiah “left the most extensive and detailed writings about what Jerusalem was like at that time,” so his book fills in the world that Nephi's short account assumes. Both ministries also “began with a divine call and commission from the Lord”; Lehi's is told in 1 Ne. 1:5–15. Centuries later Nephi the son of Helaman names Jeremiah as “that same prophet who testified of the destruction of Jerusalem” (Hel. 8:20).

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Scripture Central, “How Did Jeremiah’s and Lehi’s Ministries Reflect One Another?”, KnoWhy #650.

5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Latter-day Prophets #

Foreknown and foreordained

Latter-day Saints read verse 5 as “an acknowledgment of man's premortal existence, and Jeremiah's foreordination”: the Lord knew Jeremiah before he was formed.

Latter-day Saints read verse 5 as “an acknowledgment of man's premortal existence, and Jeremiah's foreordination”: the Lord knew Jeremiah before he was formed. The verse is “a powerful proof of our premortal existence as individuals,” and “knew” (Hebrew yadaʿ) “connotes a very personal, intimate relationship.” Abraham is told the same of himself among the noble and great ones: “thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (Abr. 3:23).

Not every reader takes the verse to mean life before birth. Another reading sees in it a divine “decree… fixed before he was conceived or born,” God's plan for Jeremiah's calling, true of all people but especially of those He chooses as instruments, and says nothing of a life before birth. Both readings take the verse as a choice made before birth; the Latter-day Saint reading adds that Jeremiah himself existed, and was known, before then.

Language #

Set apart and appointed

The Lord set Jeremiah apart before birth and appointed him a prophet to the nations.

The Lord set Jeremiah apart before birth and appointed him a prophet to the nations. The Hebrew verb behind “sanctified” means to “set apart, devote, consecrate,” and the lexicon lists this verse under God's consecrating a prophet. Jeremiah's premortal appointment “consisted of being foreordained, sanctified, and sent forth (compare Abraham 3:23).”

The scope is “nations,” not only Judah. The Church edition's footnote sends the reader to Jer. 25:15–29 and Jer. 46:1, where the book turns to the surrounding nations, and verse 10 repeats the scope: “over the nations and over the kingdoms.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

Language #

Too young to speak

Jeremiah objects that he is too young. The Hebrew behind “child” means “youth” (the Church edition's footnote; the same word is in verse 7), and he began his ministry “as a…

Jeremiah objects that he is too young. The Hebrew behind “child” means “youth” (the Church edition's footnote; the same word is in verse 7), and he began his ministry “as a youth,” though the text gives no age.

He stands in a line of servants who felt unequal to a call: Enoch (Moses 6:31), Moses (Ex. 4:10), and Gideon (Judg. 6:15). The Lord answers Jeremiah not with reassurance about his age but with a command, “whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak,” and a promise: “I am with thee to deliver thee” (Jer. 1:7–8).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

Latter-day Prophets #

My words in thy mouth

A prophet speaks the Lord's words, not his own: “A prophet does not necessarily say what he wants to say, for the Lord puts His own words into the mouth of the prophet.”

A prophet speaks the Lord's words, not his own: “A prophet does not necessarily say what he wants to say, for the Lord puts His own words into the mouth of the prophet.” That is why it makes no difference whether the Lord speaks Himself or through His servants: “it is the same” (D&C 1:38). The touch on the mouth recalls Isaiah's call, where a coal was laid on his lips (Isa. 6:7), the passage the Church edition's footnote gives here.

This answers Jeremiah's objection in verse 6. What he is sent to say was not his to compose, so his youth does not decide whether it can be said.

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

Literary Structure #

Four verbs of ruin, two of building

Jeremiah's commission has six verbs: four of destruction (“root out,” “pull down,” “destroy,” “throw down”) and then two of renewal (“build,” “plant”).

Jeremiah's commission has six verbs: four of destruction (“root out,” “pull down,” “destroy,” “throw down”) and then two of renewal (“build,” “plant”). The Church edition's footnotes link them to Jer. 18:7 and Jer. 45:4, where the same verbs return.

The pairing comes back in Jer. 31:28, among the prophecies of “the latter-day restoration of Israel and the gospel covenant”: “like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant.” What is said here of Jeremiah's word is said there of the Lord Himself. The verb rendered “watched” is shaqad, the same verb the KJV renders “hasten” in the almond vision (verse 12), so the commission and the first vision share a word.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.

Verses 11–12

The almond branch

In plain words

“What do you see, Jeremiah?” “A branch of an almond tree.” “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to carry it out.”

11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.

Language #

The almond and the watcher

The first vision is a pun in Hebrew. The word for “almond” is shaqed, and the Lord's reply uses a verb from the same root, shoqed, which the KJV renders “hasten.”

The first vision is a pun in Hebrew. The word for “almond” is shaqed, and the Lord's reply uses a verb from the same root, shoqed, which the KJV renders “hasten.” The almond tree is “so called from its early waking out of winter's sleep,” and the verb shaqad means “watch, wake”; its participle is the word in verse 12. So Jeremiah sees the “wakeful” tree, and the Lord says, in effect, “I am wakeful over my word to perform it.”

The almond was “evidently chosen because it is the first tree to bud in spring. As the almond tree hastens to come into blossom, so would the word of the Lord through Jeremiah hasten to fulfillment.”

12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

Verses 13–16

The boiling pot

In plain words

A second time: “What do you see?” “A boiling pot, facing this way from the north.” The Lord said, “Disaster will pour out from the north on everyone who lives in the land. I am summoning all the kingdoms of the north. Their rulers will set up their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem and against all the walls around it and all the cities of Judah. I will pronounce my judgments on them for all their wickedness, because they have abandoned me, burned incense to other gods, and bowed down to what their own hands made.”

13 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.

Imagery #

The pot and the north

The boiling pot, “whose contents boil over,” stands for “the disaster and ruin which the families of the kingdoms of the north will pour out on Judah.”

The boiling pot, “whose contents boil over,” stands for “the disaster and ruin which the families of the kingdoms of the north will pour out on Judah.” The Church edition links it to another boiling pot in Ezek. 24:3–5.

Verse 14 does not name Babylon. On one reading the pot is not Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom itself (“such a figure would be too unnatural”) but the ruin it brings, and “north” is simply the direction from which “all armies marching from the Euphrates towards Palestine entered the land.” The Lord says only that He will summon “all the families of the kingdoms of the north.”

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

14 Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

Context #

Thrones at the gates

Setting a throne at the gates means taking power over the city, not just besieging it: “To set one's throne… is a figure for the establishing of sovereignty.”

Setting a throne at the gates means taking power over the city, not just besieging it: “To set one's throne… is a figure for the establishing of sovereignty.” The throne is that of a ruler, not a judge's seat, as in Jer. 43:10, where a throne set up over stones can only mean dominion. The northern kings and their generals will rule where Judah's kings sat.

16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Context #

Why the judgment comes

The judgment comes for Judah's own wickedness, and verse 16 names it: they have “forsaken me,” burned incense to other gods, and worshipped “the works of their own hands.”

The judgment comes for Judah's own wickedness, and verse 16 names it: they have “forsaken me,” burned incense to other gods, and worshipped “the works of their own hands.” Burning incense “is a symbol of prayer (see Revelation 5:8; 8:3),” so the charge is more than ritual: “The people were seeking help and guidance from the false gods rather than from the Lord.” The enemy from the north is the Lord's instrument, but the cause is within Judah.

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

Verses 17–19

Stand and speak

In plain words

“Get ready. Stand up and tell them everything I command you. Do not be terrified of them, or I will terrify you in front of them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and its people. They will fight you but will not overcome you, for I am with you, to rescue you.”

17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

Imagery #

A fortified city and an iron pillar

The Lord makes Jeremiah a fortress against his own people: He “likened him to an invincible city, preparing Jeremiah to stand firm against the onslaught that would pour out on him…

The Lord makes Jeremiah a fortress against his own people: He “likened him to an invincible city, preparing Jeremiah to stand firm against the onslaught that would pour out on him on every hand once he started his ministry and condemned the people's sins.” The three images, a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, all say that he will be attacked and will not fall.

The opponents are listed: kings, princes, priests, and “the people of the land,” every class in Judah, including the priests, though Jeremiah is a priest's son. The promise of verse 19, “they shall not prevail against thee,” rests on the words of verse 8: “I am with thee to deliver thee.”

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 1

The Book of Mormon ties Jeremiah to Christ directly. Nephi the son of Helaman names Jeremiah among the prophets whose words about Jerusalem were fulfilled, and asks why the Son of God should not come “according to his prophecy” (Hel. 8:20); both Jeremiah and Lehi “foresaw the Messiah's ministry.” The chapter itself shows the Lord who calls: He knew His servant before birth, put His words in his mouth, and promised, “I am with thee to deliver thee” (Jer. 1:8; Jer. 1:19). The Church edition links the commission in verse 7, “whatsoever I command thee,” to the risen Lord's charge to His apostles, which ends with the same assurance: “I am with you alway” (Matt. 28:20).

Sources & further reading

“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
Scripture Central, “How Did Jeremiah’s and Lehi’s Ministries Reflect One Another?”, KnoWhy #650.

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