Jeremiah 1:5
in Jeremiah 1“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Jeremiah 1
Commentary
6 notes on this verse(Vers. 4, 5.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you: I have made you a prophet to the nations. Not that Jeremiah existed before his conception, as some heresy suspects, but that the Lord foresaw him to be. To whom things not yet made already exist, according to what the Apostle spoke: Who calls those things that are not, as those that are (Rom. IV, 17).
This site's exposition
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee
The call precedes the man's own existence, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, the strongest prenatal calling text in Scripture, stated plainly for what it is. Ordination as prophet unto the nations follows the knowing and the sanctifying rather than the reverse, so the office rests on God's initiative and not on any qualification Jeremiah could offer. The bench reads the verse alongside the servant songs of Isaiah and Paul's own account of being set apart from his mother's womb, a pattern of calling that runs before birth through both Testaments.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee,.... Not merely by his omniscience, so he knows all men before their conception and birth; but with such a knowledge as had special love and affection joined with it; in which sense the Lord knows them that are his, as he does not others, and predestinates them unto eternal life; and which is not only before their formation in the womb, but before the foundation of the world, even from all eternity.
I sanctified - I ordained thee for this public service. He speaks thus to Jeremiah, not to the other prophets, because he stood in need of greater encouragement than they, both in respect of the tenderness of his years, and the difficulties which he was to encounter with.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Rather, “Before I formed thee in the belly.” I approved of thee (as one fit for the prophetic office),” and before thou camest forth from the womb” I made thee holy (dedicated thee to holy uses); I have appointed thee (now by this public call to be) “a prophet unto the nations.” Unto the nations - The privileges contained in this verse are so great as in their full sense to be true only of Christ Himself, while to Jeremiah they belong as being in so many particulars a type of Christ.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
on Jeremiah 1:4-10
Jeremiah's call to the prophetical office. unto me--other manuscripts read "to him"; but English Version probably represents the true Hebrew text; this inscription was doubtless made by Jeremiah himself.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּטֶ֨רֶם | beterem | <in> before | H2962 → | 56 times |
| אֶצָּרְךָ֤ | ʾetzorkha | I formed you | H3335 → | 62 times |
| בַבֶּ֙טֶן֙ | vabeten | in the belly | H990 → | |
| יְדַעְתִּ֔יךָ | yeda'tikha | I knew you | H3045 → | 945 times |
| וּבְטֶ֛רֶם | uveterem | and <in> before | H2962 → | 56 times |
| תֵּצֵ֥א | tetze' | you came forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מֵרֶ֖חֶם | merechem | from [the] womb | H7358 → | 26 times |
| הִקְדַּשְׁתִּ֑יךָ | hikdashticha | I set apart you | H6942 → | 171 times |
| נָבִ֥יא | navi' | a prophet | H5030 → | 314 times |
| לַגּוֹיִ֖ם | lagoyim | to the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| נְתַתִּֽיךָ׃ | netatikha | I appointed you | H5414 → | 2011 times |
בְּטֶ֨רֶם<in> before
beteremH2962 →56 times
אֶצָּרְךָ֤I formed you
ʾetzorkhaH3335 →62 times
בַבֶּ֙טֶן֙in the belly
vabetenH990 →
יְדַעְתִּ֔יךָI knew you
yeda'tikhaH3045 →945 times
וּבְטֶ֛רֶםand <in> before
uveteremH2962 →56 times
תֵּצֵ֥אyou came forth
tetze'H3318 →1067 times
מֵרֶ֖חֶםfrom [the] womb
merechemH7358 →26 times
הִקְדַּשְׁתִּ֑יךָI set apart you
hikdashtichaH6942 →171 times
נָבִ֥יאa prophet
navi'H5030 →314 times
לַגּוֹיִ֖םto the nations
lagoyimH1471 →561 times
נְתַתִּֽיךָ׃I appointed you
netatikhaH5414 →2011 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 8:29For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
it leads to
- Ephesians 1:4–5
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
- Ephesians 1:11
In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- 2 Timothy 1:9
He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
- 1 Peter 1:20
He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
- Revelation 13:8
And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was…
- Ephesians 1:4–5
Through
Psalms 139:16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
it leads to
- Psalms 56:8
You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle— are they not in Your book?
- Malachi 3:16
At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD…
- Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their…
- Psalms 56:8
Where this verse is studied
3 studies on this verse
On Jeremiah 1:5
Jeremiah: the Study Guide
Open the study →
On Jeremiah 1:5
The Potter and the Clay — Jeremiah 18–19
Open the study →
On Jeremiah 1:5
Type-Scenes: the Stories Scripture Tells Twice
Open the study →
Also on Jeremiah 1: 3 studies that walk through this chapter ▾
- Huldah, the Prophetess Who Authenticated Scripture · MannaFest
- Trees — Eden, Cross, New JerusalemTwo trees stood in Eden and framed the first choice. One stood on Calvary and absorbed the consequence of the wrong one. The tree of life closes the canon, multiplied and unguarded.
- Wordplay: the Puns of the Prophets
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.