⁴ The LORD’s word came to me: ⁵ “Before I created you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I made you a prophet to the nations.” ⁶ “Ah, LORD God,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak because I’m only a child.” ⁷ The LORD responded, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’ Where I send you, you must go; what I tell you, you must say. ⁸ Don’t be afraid of them, because I’m with you to rescue you,” declares the LORD. ⁹ Then the LORD stretched out his hand, touched my mouth, and said to me, “I’m putting my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ This very day I appoint you over nations and empires, to dig up and pull down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.”