Jeremiah 16:1
“Yahweh’s word came also to me, saying,”
What does Jeremiah 16:1 mean?
This is one of those opening lines where God is about to give Jeremiah a difficult message. The phrase "Yahweh's word came to me" was the standard way prophets in ancient Israel described receiving a word from God, and it signals that what follows is important and direct from the Lord himself. In Jeremiah's case, God is about to ask him to do something unusual and painful as a living sign to his people. These simple words introduce us to a prophet who listened even when God asked him to do hard things.