Jeremiah

These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah. He was one of the priests who lived in Anathoth, in the territory belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.

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

NoteAnathoth was a village about three miles northeast of Jerusalem, set aside as a home for priests. It lay in the territory of Benjamin, one of the twelve tribes of Israel; by Jeremiah's time that land was part of the small southern kingdom of Judah. Priests were the hereditary officials who ran the sacrificial worship and taught the law, so Jeremiah came from a family already inside the religious establishment he would spend his life criticizing.

2The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah, in the thirteenth year that Josiah ruled.

2To 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.

Note"The LORD" in small capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God (the four Hebrew letters YHWH), which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud; where the King James prints "Lord" in ordinary letters it is translating an ordinary Hebrew word for master. The thirteenth year of Josiah was about 627 BC. Kings were dated by the years of their reigns because there was no continuous calendar era.

3It kept coming during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, and on until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem were taken away as captives.

3It 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.

NoteThe two kings named here, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, were both sons of the Josiah of verse 2, so the span covers roughly forty years, about 627 to 586 BC. "The carrying away of Jerusalem captive" is the Babylonian conquest, when the city was taken and much of its population deported to Babylon. The "fifth month" is the fifth of the Hebrew religious year, falling in our July–August.

4The word of the LORD came to me. He said:

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

5"Before I shaped you inside your mother, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for myself, and I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations."

5Before 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.

NoteA prophet in Hebrew usage is someone who speaks on another's behalf, a spokesman, rather than primarily a predictor of the future. "I knew you" translates a verb that can mean simple acquaintance but also singling someone out or choosing them. The King James "sanctified" does not mean made morally pure; it means set apart for a particular use, the same word used of dedicating objects for the temple. "Ordained" here is an ordinary word for appointing someone to a job.

6Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Look, I do not know how to speak, because I am only a child."

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

Note"Lord GOD" with GOD in small capitals marks a doubled title in the Hebrew: the word for master followed by the divine name. The word rendered "child" covers a wide range, from a young boy to an unmarried young man or a servant; it is a claim to be too young and inexperienced to be taken seriously, not a statement of being an infant.

7But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to, and you must say whatever I command you.

7But 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.

8Do not be afraid when you face them, because I am with you to rescue you," says the LORD.

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

Note"Be not afraid of their faces" is a Hebrew idiom: to be afraid of someone's face is to be intimidated when standing in front of them.

9Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Look, I have put my words in your mouth.

9Then 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.

10See, today I have placed you over nations and over kingdoms: to pull up and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, and also to build and to plant."

10See, 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.

NoteThe six verbs come in two sets of images (uprooting and pulling up plants, and demolishing buildings) against two of putting them back, building and planting. "Build and plant" and "pluck up and tear down" recur as fixed phrases throughout the book. In the ancient understanding of a prophet's role, announcing what would happen and bringing it about were not sharply separated, which is why he is described as being set over kingdoms himself.

11The word of the LORD came to me again. He asked, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" I answered, "I see a branch from an almond tree."

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

NoteThe point turns on a play on words that cannot survive translation. The Hebrew for almond is *shaqed*, and the word for watching or being wide awake is *shoqed*. The almond is the first tree in the region to blossom, in late winter, and was nicknamed the wakeful or watchful tree.

12Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, because I am watching over my word to make sure it happens."

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

NoteThe King James "I will hasten my word" and the modern "I am watching over my word" translate the same Hebrew verb, which means to stay awake, keep watch, and so be alert to act, the echo of "almond" in the previous verse.

13The word of the LORD came to me a second time. He asked, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a pot boiling, and it is tilting away from the north."

13And 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.

NoteA "seething pot" is a cooking pot at a full boil over a fire. The Hebrew of the second half is genuinely unclear: the pot's "face" is either turned away from the north, so that its contents would spill southward toward Judah, or turned toward the north; translators split over which. Either way the north is what is being pointed at.

14Then the LORD said to me, "Disaster will be poured out from the north on everyone who lives in this land.

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

NoteInvading armies from Mesopotamia, including Babylon, could not cross the desert directly and so always arrived down through Syria from the north. "The north" therefore functions in Hebrew prophecy as shorthand for the direction danger comes from. The word translated "evil" here means disaster or calamity rather than wickedness.

15Watch: I am about to call for all the clans of the kingdoms of the north," says the LORD. "They will come, and each of their rulers will set up his throne at the entrance of Jerusalem's gates. They will come against all the walls around the city and against all the towns of Judah.

15For, 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.

NoteThe open space just inside a city's gates was where rulers and elders sat to hold court and settle disputes. For a foreign king to set up his throne there is a picture of a conqueror taking over the seat of local authority, not simply of an army camping outside.

16I will announce my judgments against them for all the evil they have done. They have abandoned me, they have burned incense to other gods, and they have worshiped things they made with their own hands.

16And 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.

NoteBurning incense was a standard act of worship at an altar, not an incidental gesture; doing it "unto other gods" means conducting formal worship of them. "The works of their own hands" is the usual scornful term for carved or cast images.

17So get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything I command you. Do not be frightened when you face them, or I will make you fall apart in front of them.

17Thou 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.

Note"Gird up thy loins" is a literal description of an everyday action: men wore long robes, and to run, work or fight you pulled the hem up and tucked it into your belt. The English idiom means get ready for hard action. "Lest I confound thee" uses the same Hebrew verb as "be not dismayed" just before it, do not let them break you, or I will break you in front of them.

18Look, today I have made you like a walled city, like an iron pillar, like bronze walls, standing against the whole land: against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

18For, 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.

NoteA "defenced city" is a fortified one, ringed with walls. "Brasen" means bronze; brass as we know it was not in use, and the King James regularly says brass where the metal is bronze. "The princes" are court officials and nobles rather than royal sons. "The people of the land" was a semi-technical term in Judah for the free landholding population, a body with real political weight, not the general poor.

19They will fight against you, but they will not beat you, because I am with you to rescue you," says the LORD.

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