◄ Jeremiah 1:11 ►
And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" "I see a branch of an almond tree," I replied.
Study Bible
And the word of the LORD came to me
This phrase signifies the divine communication between God and His prophet, Jeremiah. In Hebrew, "word" is "dabar," which implies not just spoken words but a dynamic, active force. The "word of the LORD" is a recurring theme in the prophetic books, emphasizing that the messages delivered by prophets are not their own but are divinely inspired. This underscores the authority and authenticity of Jeremiah's prophetic mission.

asking, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?'
God's question to Jeremiah is not merely for information but is pedagogical, inviting Jeremiah to engage with the vision actively. The Hebrew verb "ra'ah" (to see) is often used in prophetic literature to denote not just physical sight but spiritual insight. This question sets the stage for a revelation that requires discernment and understanding, highlighting the role of prophets as seers who perceive divine truths.

'I see a branch of an almond tree,'
The Hebrew word for "almond tree" is "shaqed," which is a play on words with "shoqed," meaning "watching" or "to be alert." The almond tree is one of the first to bloom in Israel, symbolizing vigilance and the swift fulfillment of God's word. This vision serves as a metaphor for God's active watchfulness over His word to ensure its fulfillment. The almond tree, therefore, becomes a symbol of hope and assurance that God's promises and warnings will come to pass.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeremiah
A prophet called by God to deliver His messages to the people of Judah. Known for his reluctance and youth at the time of his calling.

2. The LORD
The God of Israel, who communicates directly with Jeremiah, guiding him in his prophetic ministry.

3. Almond Tree
In Hebrew, the word for almond tree is "shaqed," which is a play on words with "shoqed," meaning "watching" or "watchful." This symbolizes God's vigilance over His word to fulfill it.
Teaching Points
God's Vigilance
The almond tree symbolizes God's watchfulness. Just as the almond tree is the first to bloom, God is prompt and attentive in fulfilling His promises.

Symbolism in Prophecy
God often uses everyday objects to convey profound truths. Understanding these symbols can deepen our comprehension of His messages.

Personal Reflection
Like Jeremiah, we are called to be attentive to what God shows us. We should be open to seeing and understanding His guidance in our lives.

Faith in God's Promises
Trust in God's word is essential. Just as He watches over His word to perform it, we can have confidence that His promises will come to pass.

Active Participation
Jeremiah's interaction with God shows that our relationship with Him is dynamic. We are invited to engage with God, ask questions, and seek understanding.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does the symbolism of the almond tree teach us about God's nature and His promises?

2. How can we apply the lesson of God's vigilance in our daily lives, especially when waiting for His promises to be fulfilled?

3. In what ways does God use ordinary objects or events in your life to communicate His will or guidance?

4. How does the interaction between God and Jeremiah in this verse encourage you to engage more deeply with God in prayer and study?

5. Reflect on a time when you have seen God's word fulfilled in your life. How does this experience strengthen your faith in His promises?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Amos 7:8
Similar to Jeremiah, Amos is shown a vision and asked what he sees, indicating a pattern of God using visual symbols to communicate His messages to prophets.

Isaiah 55:11
This verse speaks of God's word not returning void, emphasizing the certainty and faithfulness of God's promises, much like the symbolism of the almond tree in Jeremiah.

Numbers 17:8
Aaron's rod, which budded with almonds, serves as a sign of God's chosen leadership, paralleling the almond tree's symbolism of God's active presence and fulfillment of His word.
Sermons
What Seest Thou?A.F. Muir Jeremiah 1:11
The Dread CommissionS. Conway Jeremiah 1:4-19
The Almond Tree and the Seething PotD. Young Jeremiah 1:11-14
Jeremiah's VisionsS. Conway Jeremiah 1:11-16
Natural Objects Setting Forth Divine DispensationsJeremiah 1:11-16
Spiritual VisionJ. Parker, D. D.Jeremiah 1:11-16
The Almond Tree's MessageJ. P. Gladstone.Jeremiah 1:11-16
The Rod of the Almond Tree and the Seething PotSermons by a London MinisterJeremiah 1:11-16
Tree EmblemsProfessor Post, F. L. S.Jeremiah 1:11-16
People
Amon, Anathoth, Benjamin, Hilkiah, Jehoiakim, Jeremiah, Josiah, Zedekiah
Places
Anathoth, Jerusalem
Topics
Almond, Almond-tree, Branch, Jeremiah, Moreover, Replied, Rod, Saying, Seeing, Seest, Tree
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 1:11-12

     4416   branch
     4528   trees

Jeremiah 1:11-14

     5548   speech, divine

Jeremiah 1:11-16

     1431   prophecy, OT methods
     1469   visions

Library
May the Fifteenth God is Wide-Awake
"Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree." --JEREMIAH i. 7-19. And through the almond tree the Lord gave the trembling young prophet the strength of assurance. The almond tree is the first to awake from its wintry sleep. When all other trees are held in frozen slumber the almond blossoms are looking out on the barren world. And God is like that, awake and vigilant. Nobody anticipates Him. Wherever Jeremiah was sent on his prophetic mission the Lord would be there before …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed.
"Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord."--Jeremiah i. 8. The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they were resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten. But there was this difference between the earlier and the later Prophets; the earlier lived and died in honour among their people,--in outward honour; though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were exalted to high places, and ruled in the congregation. …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Writings of Jerome.
The following is a list of the writings arranged under various heads, and showing the date of composition and the place held by each in the Edition of Vallarsi, the eleven volumes of which will be found in Migne's Patrologia, vols. xxii. to xxx. The references are to the volumes of Jerome's works (i.-xi.) in that edition. I. Bible translations: (1) From the Hebrew.--The Vulgate of the Old Testament, written at Bethlehem, begun 391, finished 404, vol. ix. (2) From the Septuagint.--The Psalms as used …
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

Out of Sectarian Confusion
I was still a Methodist. The Methodist did not license women to preach; but when the preachers found out that God was using me in the salvation of souls and that I was not especially interested in building up any certain denomination, I had an abundance of calls. God had already begun talking to my brother Jeremiah about the sin of division, and he was beginning to see the evils of sectarianism. The winter after I was healed, he had attended the Jacksonville, Illinois, holiness convention, and had …
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

How those are to be Admonished who do not Even Begin Good Things, and those who do not Finish them when Begun.
(Admonition 35.) Differently to be admonished are they who do not even begin good things, and those who in no wise complete such as they have begun. For as to those who do not even begin good things, for them the first need is, not to build up what they may wholesomely love, but to demolish that wherein they are wrongly occupied. For they will not follow the untried things they hear of, unless they first come to feel how pernicious are the things that they have tried; since neither does one desire …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Servant's Inflexible Resolve
'For the Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set My face like a flint.'--ISAIAH l. 7. What a striking contrast between the tone of these words and of the preceding! There all is gentleness, docility, still communion, submission, patient endurance. Here all is energy and determination, resistance and martial vigour. It is like the contrast between a priest and a warrior. And that gentleness is the parent of this boldness. The same Will which is all submission …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Baptismal Covenant Can be Kept Unbroken. Aim and Responsibility of Parents.
We have gone "to the Law and to the Testimony" to find out what the nature and benefits of Baptism are. We have gathered out of the Word all the principal passages bearing on this subject. We have grouped them together, and studied them side by side. We have noticed that their sense is uniform, clear, and strong. Unless we are willing to throw aside all sound principles of interpretation, we can extract from the words of inspiration only one meaning, and that is that the baptized child is, by virtue …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

That Sometimes Some Laudably Desire the Office of Preaching, While Others, as Laudably, are Drawn to it by Compulsion.
Although sometimes some laudably desire the office of preaching, yet others are as laudably drawn to it by compulsion; as we plainly perceive, if we consider the conduct of two prophets, one of whom offered himself of his own accord to be sent to preach, yet the other in fear refused to go. For Isaiah, when the Lord asked whom He should send, offered himself of his own accord, saying, Here I am; send me (Isai. vi. 8). But Jeremiah is sent, yet humbly pleads that he should not be sent, saying, Ah, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

A Defence of the Doctrine of Justification, by Faith in Jesus Christ;
SHEWING, TRUE GOSPEL-HOLINESS FLOWS FROM THENCE; OR, MR. FOWLER'S PRETENDED DESIGN OF CHRISTIANITY, PROVED TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN TO TRAMPLE UNDER FOOT THE BLOOD OF THE SON OF GOD; AND THE IDOLIZING OF MAN'S OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS AS ALSO, HOW WHILE HE PRETENDS TO BE A MINISTER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, HE OVERTHROWETH THE WHOLESOME DOCTRINE CONTAINED IN THE 10TH, 11TH, AND 13TH, OF THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE SAME, AND THAT HE FALLETH IN WITH THE QUAKER AND ROMANIST, AGAINST THEM. BY JOHN BUNYAN …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1140) to the Canons of Lyons, on the Conception of S. Mary.
To the Canons of Lyons, on the Conception of S. Mary. Bernard states that the Festival of the Conception was new; that it rested on no legitimate foundation; and that it should not have been instituted without consulting the Apostolic See, to whose opinion he submits. 1. It is well known that among all the Churches of France that of Lyons is first in importance, whether we regard the dignity of its See, its praiseworthy regulations, or its honourable zeal for learning. Where was there ever the vigour …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Epistle iv. To Cyriacus, Bishop.
To Cyriacus, Bishop. Gregory to Cyriacus, Bishop of Constantinople. We have received with becoming charity our common sons, George the presbyter and Theodore your deacon; and we rejoice that you have passed from the care of ecclesiastical business to the government of souls, since, according to the voice of the Truth, He that is faithful in a little will be faithful also in much (Luke xvi. 10). And to the servant who administers well it is said, Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Sin-Bearer.
A COMMUNION MEDITATION AT MENTONE. "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."--1 Peter ii. 24, 25. THE SIN-BEARER. THIS wonderful passage is a part of Peter's address to servants; and in his day nearly all servants were slaves. Peter begins at the eighteenth verse: "Servants, be subject …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
(in the Wilderness of Judæa, and on the Banks of the Jordan, Occupying Several Months, Probably a.d. 25 or 26.) ^A Matt. III. 1-12; ^B Mark I. 1-8; ^C Luke III. 1-18. ^b 1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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