The Call of Jeremiah

¹These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

²The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,

³and through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

⁴The word of the LORD came to me, saying:

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I set you apartand appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

⁶“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”

⁷But the LORD told me:“Do not say,‘I am only a child.’For to everyone I send you,you must go,and all that I command you,you must speak.

⁸Do not be afraid of them,for I am with you to deliver you,”declares the LORD.

⁹Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me:“Behold, I have put My wordsin your mouth.

¹⁰See, I have appointed you todayover nations and kingdomsto uproot and tear down,to destroy and overthrow,to build and plant.”

¹¹And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”“I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

¹²“You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watchingover My word to accomplish it.”

¹³Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?”“I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.

¹⁵For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD.“Their kings will come and set up their thronesat the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.They will attack all her surrounding wallsand all the other cities of Judah.

¹⁶I will pronounce My judgments against themfor all their wickedness,because they have forsaken Me,and they have burned incense to other godsand worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷Get yourself ready.Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them.

¹⁸Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

¹⁹They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.

The Ravens Feed Elijah

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead,said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

²Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah:

³“Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.

⁴And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

⁵So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.

⁶The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.

⁷Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

The Widow of Zarephath

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:

⁹“Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

¹⁰So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.”

¹¹And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”

¹²But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”

¹³“Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son,

¹⁴for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’”

¹⁵So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household.

¹⁶The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

¹⁷Later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill, and his sickness grew worse and worse, until no breath remained in him.

¹⁸“O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”

¹⁹But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.”So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.

²⁰Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?”

²¹Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”

²²And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.

²³Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared.

²⁴Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth.”

The Restoration of Jerusalem

¹Again the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying:

²This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I am jealous for Zion with great zeal; I am jealous for her with great fervor.”

³This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”

⁴This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Old men and old women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of great age.

⁵And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

⁶This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “If this is impossiblein the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be impossible in My eyes?” declares the LORD of Hosts.

⁷This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west.

⁸I will bring them back to dwell in Jerusalem, where they will be My people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.”

⁹This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were present when the foundations were laid to rebuild the temple, the house of the LORD of Hosts.

¹⁰For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor.

¹¹But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

¹²“For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance.

¹³As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

¹⁴For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Just as I resolved to bring disaster upon you when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the LORD of Hosts,

¹⁵“so now I have resolved to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid.

¹⁶These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,

¹⁷do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely, for I hate all these things,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,

¹⁹“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.”

²⁰This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Peoples will yet come—the residents of many cities—

²¹and the residents of one city will go to another, saying: ‘Let us go at once to plead before the LORD and to seek the LORD of Hosts. I myself am going.’

²²And many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the LORD of Hosts in Jerusalem and to plead before the LORD.”

²³This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

You Showed Favor to Your Land

¹You showed favor to Your land, O LORD;You restored Jacob from captivity.

²You forgave the iniquity of Your people;You covered all their sin.Selah

³You withheld all Your fury;You turned from Your burning anger.

⁴Restore us, O God of our salvation,and put away Your displeasure toward us.

⁵Will You be angry with us forever?Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?

⁶Will You not revive us again,that Your people may rejoice in You?

⁷Show us Your loving devotion, O LORD,and grant us Your salvation.

⁸I will listen to what God the LORD will say;for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints;He will not let them return to folly.

⁹Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,that His glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰Loving devotion and faithfulness have joined together;righteousness and peace have kissed.

¹¹Faithfulness sprouts from the earth,and righteousness looks down from heaven.

¹²The LORD will indeed provide what is good,and our land will yield its increase.

¹³Righteousness will go before Himto prepare the way for His steps.