God said to Jeremiah:
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
I have appointed you as prophet to the nations."

Jeremiah said to God:
"Lord, I do not know how to speak.
I am so young."

God then touched Jeremiah's mouth and said:
"I now put my words into your mouth.
Go and tell the people everything I ask you to speak.

Do not be dismayed by anyone.
I am making you strong.

You must confront Judah's kings, priests and people.
They will oppose you, but will not overcome you,
for I am with you."

Lord, please give special courage
 to people who speak your message for the world

"The Lord says:
I remember the love you used to have for me.
But now you have forgotten me.

Priests and prophets have no knowledge of me.
King and princes have rebelled against me.

Not only have you abandoned me,
you now follow false gods.

You have abandoned the fountain of living water
in exchange for muddy pools."

Lord, please don't let  anyone else  or anything else
 ever replace you as number one in my life

The people refuse to repent
and so the land has many sorrows.

Stop and think about the past: which was the good way to live?
Follow that way now and you will find peace for yourselves and the land.

Lord,  please bless our land - by helping us be better people.

"You people of Judah who come here to worship,
amend your behavior and actions,
and then I, the Lord,  will meet you here in this Temple.

Do not exploit the stranger, the orphan and the widow.
Do not follow alien gods, do not break the Commandments.

If you don't care about bad behavior
and yet keep on coming to my Temple for worship,
your worship is useless
and you are turning this Temple into a robbers' den.

This nation refuses to listen to the Lord.
Sincerity has vanished since worship and behavior are not related."

Lord, please help me "practise what I preach"

My people have forgotten God.
My people ignore God.
My people follow false gods.
My people have no time for the real God.

Lord, you know how weak we are.
Correct us gently, Lord.

Correct us gently, Lord, correct us gently

Lord, you are in our midst, we are called by your name.
Please give us help and strength in this time of trouble.

Wherever I go I see sadness and despair.
Our land has been invaded by the foreign soldier.

If I go into the countryside,
I see men killed by the sword.

If I go into the city,
I see people sick with hunger.

O God, you are our hope.
For your name's sake, please forgive us and help us.

Lord, please help people  whose countries
are under occupation by foreign soldiers

I neither lend nor borrow,
yet everyone curses me.
Lord, remember how I suffer insult for your sake.

When I heard your word, I devoured it.
Your word was my delight and the joy of my heart
for you called me to speak your word.

Lord, please increase my love for your word, my love for the Bible

The Lord will bring back Israel's exiles,
back to the land he gave to our ancestors.

Lord, my strength, my stronghold,
all the nations will come to you
and acknowledge that you alone are God in all the earth.

Let all the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you

The Lord told Jeremiah to go to the house of the potter.

At the potter's house, Jeremiah watched the potter working.
Sometimes a vessel he was making wasn't shaped properly.

So the potter would take the clay and start again
and shape the clay into a new vessel.

Then the Lord told Jeremiah:
"The House of Israel is clay, I am  the potter.
I  keep on trying to form Israel into a holy nation."

Lord, you are the potter, we are the clay - the work of your hands.
Please mould us into what you want us to become.

Jeremiah prayed to God:
"Lord, you know that people are plotting against me.
Please help me and keep me safe."

One of the Temple priests had Jeremiah beaten
and put in stocks for a day near the Temple.

Again Jeremiah prayed to God:
"You have seduced me, Lord.
You have told me to proclaim a harsh message for the people.

This has made me a laughing-stock.
Being your messenger has caused me insult  all the day long.

At one stage I even thought of not speaking your message any more.
But then I felt a fire burning in my heart. 

I could not stop thinking of you. 
I just had to speak your message."

Lord,  please increase my love for you. Please give me more courage to speak your message to my family, friends and people I meet

Jerusalem was under siege by the Chaldaeans.
The Lord told Jeremiah to tell the leaders of Jerusalem to surrender.

But the leaders of Jerusalem did not obey Jeremiah's words.
So the Lord got Jeremiah to say these words:

"Woe to the shepherds who allow my sheep to be scattered and killed.
You have not taken care of my sheep.

Therefore I will raise up a leader who will be wise and just.
He will be a good shepherd of my people."

Lord, please help our leaders to be good shepherds

For 23 years Jeremiah spoke the message of the Lord,
calling on people to do good and turn away from evil.

But the people, especially the leaders, refused to listen to Jeremiah.
They eventually arrested Jeremiah and planned to kill him.

Jeremiah also sent a message to the exiles in Babylon.
But they too refused his message.

Lord, please give me some of Jeremiah's courage and faith

God told Jeremiah to tell the people these words:

"I will restore you to health.
I will heal your wounds.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Strong and constant is my love for you.

I will bring back the exiles and save them.
I will change their sorrow into joy.

The days are coming when I will make a new agreement with my people.
Deep within their hearts I will plant love of my Law.

I will be their God and they will be my people.
I will forgive all their sins."

Lord, please plant love of you deep within my heart

Jerusalem was about to be captured by the Chaldaeans.
But God  promised that Jerusalem would recover its freedom.

As a sign that Jerusalem would be free again,
God told Jeremiah to buy a field.

People thought Jeremiah was crazy.
But through this action Jeremiah delivered God's message:

This city and this land are now a waste,
but soon people will again buy land and build homes
in freedom and safety.

Lord, when things get really bad, please increase our trust in you
that you will turn things around in our lives

Most of the people and their leaders ignored God's message
delivered by Jeremiah.

But one group listened to Jeremiah and obeyed God's message:
That group was the nomad clan of Rechabites.

At God's command Jeremiah invited them to a meal  near the Temple
and invited them to drink wine.

But they replied that they had been told by God
never to own property or build houses or be farmers or drink wine.

Jeremiah then spoke to the people watching the Rechabites:
"See how this clan is obedient to the message of the Lord,
unlike most of the people and its leaders who ignore God.

Because this clan has been faithful and obedient,
therefore it will  always be blessed by the Lord".

Lord, please help me be faithful to you,  like the Rechabites

God told Jeremiah to write down
all the messages he had spoken for God.

So Jeremiah got Baruch to make a written record of all his messages.
Baruch wrote the messages on a scroll.

Some good officials took the scroll to the king to read.
The officials hoped the king would obey the words of the scroll.

The king had the scroll read aloud for him.
As each section was read, the king used a knife to cut off the section,
and then threw the section into a fire.

Eventually the whole scroll was burnt.
The king then issued an order for  Jeremiah to be arrested.

God protected Jeremiah and did not allow him to be arrested for the time being. God also told Jeremiah to have another scroll made.

Lord, please move world leaders' hearts
to be open to your message of justice and peace and love

Jeremiah was arrested and put into a muddy well to die.
But a good official persuaded the king to free Jeremiah.

When the Chaldaeans captured Jersusalem,
they sent many people to Babylon as exiles.

Jeremiah was spared from exile
and he kept trying to get the people to accept defeat as God had told them.

But most of the people would not listen to Jeremiah,
even though all his prophecies about defeat had come true.

God protected the good officials who had helped Jeremiah.

Lord, please help government leaders be good,
like the good officials who helped Jeremiah.

Jeremiah predicted that the powerful nations involved in  Israel's capture would all fall:

the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites,
the Babylonians and others.

Jeremiah also reminded Israel to rely on the help of the Lord
more than the help of other nations:

"Our redeemer is strong. The Lord is his name.
He will bring peace to the world".

Lord, help us to rely on you more than on human help