BOOK 24 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Jeremiah 1

Jeremiah book home•Chapter 1 of 52•19 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

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Jeremiah 1 Overview

Jeremiah is called as a prophet before his birth, protests his youth, receives God’s words, sees signs of an almond branch and boiling pot, and is commissioned to confront Judah as northern judgment approaches.

JeremiahBook

1Chapter

19Verses

Major ProphetsDivision

Before you read Jeremiah 1

Coming from

Isaiah closes with worldwide worship, Zion’s hope, and severe judgment on rebellion. Jeremiah follows in canonical order and brings the reader into Judah’s final decades before Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon.

In this chapter

Leads into

Jeremiah prosecutes Judah for abandoning the LORD who brought them from Egypt, exchanging their glory for useless idols, trusting foreign powers, and pursuing spiritual adultery while denying guilt.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Jeremiah’s ministry begins in the thirteenth year of Josiah and continues through Judah’s final kings. The call chapter establishes both the divine origin of his message and the resistance he will face.

The interpretive center of Jeremiah 1 is the chapter’s own movement: god’s call precedes jeremiah’s confidence. Read its poetry, signs, historical references, and later biblical connections from that center rather than treating isolated phrases as detached slogans.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

God’s call precedes Jeremiah’s confidence

The prophet’s authority rests on God’s appointment, not age, personality, or public approval.

Prophetic words come from God

The LORD touches Jeremiah’s mouth and places His words there.

Faithful ministry can include sustained opposition

Jeremiah is promised conflict with kings, priests, and people, yet also divine presence and deliverance.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Exodus 4:10-16

Moses also objects to his inadequacy and is answered by God’s promise to give words.

Galatians 1:15

Paul speaks of being separated from his mother’s womb for a divine calling, echoing prophetic-call language.

Jeremiah 20

Later opposition shows how costly the commission of chapter 1 becomes.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not use 'before I formed thee' as if the verse were only a generic self-esteem slogan.

It specifically concerns Jeremiah’s prophetic appointment, though it also affirms God’s knowledge before birth.

Do not equate prophetic calling with eternal salvation.

The chapter is about office and mission, not the condition for receiving eternal life.

Read Jeremiah 1 watching for…

Jeremiah’s historical dating

God’s knowledge and appointment before birth

Jeremiah’s protest about youth

the almond branch

the boiling pot from the north

Chapter outline3 sections

1-3Jeremiah’s priestly background and the years of his ministry are introduced 4-10The LORD calls Jeremiah from the womb and appoints him a prophet to the nations 11-19Two visions announce coming judgment from the north, and Jeremiah is told to stand firm

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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