Jeremiah 1:2

Jeremiah, like Isaiah, is one of the major prophets, not of the minor, like the others from whose writings I have just given extracts. He prophesied when Josiah reigned in Jerusalem and Ancus Martius at Rome, when the captivity of the Jews was already at hand; and he continued to prophesy down to the fifth month of the captivity, as we find from his writings. Zephaniah, one of the minor prophets, is put along with him, because he himself says that he prophesied in the days of Josiah; but he does not say till when. Jeremiah thus prophesied not only in the times of Ancus Martius but also in those of Tarquinius Priscus, whom the Romans had for their fifth king. For he had already begun to reign when that captivity took place.

King Josiah's father was Amon, an impious man. His grandfather was Manasseh, who had instructed Josiah's father in his impiety. Josiah, on the contrary, went the exact opposite of them, siding with the party of the godly. His children, however, showed no interest in their …

(Chapter 1, Verses 1 onwards) The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah concerning the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: the word of the Lord that came to him in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. And it came to pass in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem, in the fifth month. The other prophets, such as Isaiah, Hosea, and Joel, were before the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, or of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. Others were after the captivity, such as Daniel, Haggai, and Zechariah. However, Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied as the captivity was imminent: one of them in the land of Judah, the other in Babylon. Jeremiah began prophesying when he was still a young boy, in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. And he prophesied during his reign for nineteen years, and afterwards under his son Joachim for eleven years, and under Zedekiah, who was the last of the kings of Judah, for eleven years, until the fifth month when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians. But the three months of Joachaz and Jehoiachin (one of whom was taken to Egypt and the other was taken with his mother to Babylon) are included in the aforementioned years: thus, from the beginning of his prophecy until the captivity of Jerusalem, in which he himself was also taken captive, he prophesied for forty-one years, except for the time when he was taken to Egypt. Here, he prophesied in Taphnis, as is contained in this very volume. According to the words of Jeremiah, the Septuagint placed, 'The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah' (Jeremiah 43:8), in this sense, that the words of Jeremiah are the word of the LORD. […]

God is ready at hand to do good, but slow to punish those who deserve punishment. Indeed, though He is able to bring punishment upon those condemned by Him in silence, without giving warning beforehand, He by no means does this; but even when He condemns, He speaks, since His purpose in speaking is that the one about to be condemned may turn back from the condemnation.

To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah,....