Yahweh Appoints Jeremiah as a Prophet to the Nations

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, among the priests who were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, 2 to 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. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

4 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,[fn]

• 5 and before you came out from the womb I consecrated you;
• I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look, I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth.”[fn] 7 But Yahweh said to me, “You must not say, ‘I am a youth,’[fn] for to whomever[fn] I send you, you will go, and whatever[fn] I command you, you will speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them,[fn] for I am with you to deliver you,” declares[fn] Yahweh.

• 9 Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me,“Look, I have put my words in your mouth.
• 10  and over the kingdoms,
• to pluck up and to pull down,
• and to destroy and to tear down,
• to build and to plant.”