He was commissioned by Jehovah in the year 647 B.C.E., the 13th year of the reign of God-fearing King Josiah of Judah.

2. What was Jeremiah’s task, and what eventful years did his prophesying cover?

² Jeremiah’s task was no easy one. He had to serve as Jehovah’s prophet in foretelling the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem, the burning of the magnificent temple of Jehovah, and the captivity of his people​—catastrophes almost unbelievable!

7. How did Jeremiah become a prophet, and how does Jehovah reassure him?

⁷ Jehovah commissions Jeremiah (1:1-19). Is it because Jeremiah wanted to be a prophet or because he came from a priestly family that he is commissioned? Jehovah himself explains: “Before I was forming you in the belly I knew you, and before you proceeded to come forth from the womb I sanctified you. Prophet to the nations I made you.” It is an assignment from Jehovah. Is Jeremiah willing to go? In humility he offers the excuse, “I am but a boy.” Jehovah reassures him: “Here I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have commissioned you this day to be over the nations and over the kingdoms, in order to uproot and to pull down and to destroy and to tear down, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah must not be afraid. “They will be certain to fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for ‘I am with you,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘to deliver you.’”​—1:5, 6, 9, 10, 19.