Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations.

“Now, that the Word of God forms us in the womb, He says to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou wentest forth from the belly, I sanctified thee, and appointed thee a prophet among the nations." And Paul, too, says in like manner, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, that I might declare Him among the nations." As, therefore, we are by the Word formed in the womb, this very same Word formed the visual power in him who had been blind from his birth; showing openly who it is that fashions us in secret, since the Word Himself had been made manifest to men: and declaring the original formation of Adam, and the manner in which he was created, and by what hand he was fashioned, indicating the whole from a part. For the Lord who formed the visual powers is He who made the whole man, carrying out the will of the Father.”

“Read the word of God that was spoken to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." God not only forms us in the womb; he also breathes on us as he did at the first creation, when "the Lord God formed man and breathed into him the breath of life." And God could not have known a person in the womb, except in his entire nature: "And before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you." Well, was it then a dead body at that early stage? Certainly not. For "God is not the God of the dead but of the living."”

“Concerning Jeremiah, God says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." … If such terms are used in Scripture of things created, but the term ever is used of the Word, then it follows, O enemies of God, that the Son did not come out of nothing, nor is he to be numbered at all among created things, but he is the Father's image and eternal word, never having not existed, but never existing as the eternal radiance.”

“He is not ashamed to assume flesh, who is the creator of those very parts. Who tells us this? The Lord said to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I made you holy." If, then, in making humanity he was not ashamed of the contact, was he ashamed in making for his own sake the holy flesh, the veil of his Godhead? It is God who even now creates children in the womb, as it is written in Job, "Didn't you pour me out as milk and curdled me like cheese? You have clothed me with skin and flesh and have knit me together with bones and sinews." There is nothing polluted in the human frame unless a person defiles it with fornication and adultery. God, who made Adam, also made Eve. Both male and female were formed by God's hands. None of the parts of the body as formed from the beginning are polluted.”

“To show them, however, the weakness and transparency of their objection, though it has no real relation to any truth, divine or human, I will prove to them that people have existed before they were born. Let them show that Jacob had not been appointed and ordained, even before he was born. While yet hidden in the secret chamber of his mother's womb, he supplanted his brother. Let them show that Jeremiah had not likewise been so, before his birth, "Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the belly, I sanctified you, and appointed you for a prophet amongst the nations." … What do you [Arians] mean by your principle that "before he was begotten he did not exist"? Was the Father engaged for some time in conception, so that certain epochs passed away before the Son was begotten?”

“Through the Holy Spirit we are reborn the children of promise, not in the mother's womb but in the power of baptism. For this reason David, who certainly was a son of promise, says to God, "Your hands have made and fashioned me." And to Jeremiah the Lord says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you."”

“When I had not yet formed you in the womb, etc. Since the days of the first man. The Holy One, blessed be He, showed Adam each generation and its prophets. I...formed you Heb. אצרך, an expression of צורה, a form. I knew you connois toi in O.F. Comp. (Exodus 6:3), “I was not known (נודעתּי) to them.” I appointed you I appointed you for this. a prophet to the nations To Israel, who behave like the nations. In this manner it is expounded in Sifrei on the verse: “A prophet from your midst, etc.” (Deut. 18:15), will set up for you and not for those who deny the Torah. How then do I fulfill “A prophet to the nations I made you”? To the children of Israel who deport themselves with the customs of the nations. It can further be interpreted: “A prophet for the nations,” like “About the nations,” to give them to drink the cup of poison, to prophesy retribution upon them, as it is said: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand, you shall give all the nations to drink of it” (infra 25:15). Another explanation of “When you had not yet emerged from the womb I appointed you” is: Concerning you I said to Moses: “I will set up a prophet...like you” (Deut. 18:18). This one reproved them, and this one reproved them. This one prophesied for forty years and this one prophesied for forty years.”

“Here begins the treatise of the book itself, and first the office of prophesying is enjoined upon Jeremiah; second, the prophecy of the prophet now established is set forth, at the words, and it came to pass, chapter 2. The first is divided into two. In the first he enjoins the office; in the second he shows the manner of its execution, at the words, thou therefore gird up. The first is divided into two. In the first he is established in the prophetic office; in the second the matter of his prophecy is designated to him, at the words, and the word of the Lord came to me. The first is divided into two. In the first the preparation of the prophet is narrated; in the second, the bestowal of the prophetic gift, at the words, and the Lord put forth his hand. The first is divided into three. In the first the preparation on the part of the Lord is set forth; in the second the contradiction of the prophet is set forth, at the words, and I said, Ah, ah, ah; in the third, the repelling of the contradiction, at the words, and the Lord said. Concerning the first, three things. First the preparation of the prophet is set forth: the word came, either outwardly through a subject creature, or inwardly through inspiration. Ps. 84: I will hear what the Lord God shall speak in me. I should form thee: for in nature itself forming, God works the form, namely as a first cause in a second. Job 10: thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh. I knew, with a knowledge of approval. Isa. 49: the Lord hath called me from the womb, from the belly of my mother he hath been mindful of my name. Second, the privileged sanctification is set forth, and before. Eccl. 49: they treated him ill, who from his mother's womb was consecrated a prophet, et cetera. Third, the preordination of the office is set forth. And a prophet I gave, namely, in my own ordaining. Isa. 44: I have given thee for a light to the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation even to the end of the earth. Concerning the sanctification in the womb let us consider four things. First, the time. And it seems that such sanctification can exist before the infusion of the soul, on account of that which the Gloss of Ambrose says on Luke 1: the spirit of life was not yet present, and already the spirit of grace was present. Moreover, it is said here: before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee: and this is understood of a spiritual knowledge, which is one of approval: therefore before formation he had grace. On the contrary it seems that not, before he is born from the womb, because Augustine says: he cannot be reborn unless already born: but no one has grace unless reborn, since it is through grace that one becomes a son of God: therefore neither the grace of sanctification. To this it must be said that the sanctification of which we speak comes about through grace, whose subject is the soul; and therefore it cannot exist before the infusion of the soul; but after the infusion, before birth from the womb, it comes about by a special privilege. To the first it must be said that the spirit of life is there said to be the outward air, freely breathed. Or the spirit of life is said to be present, if it be taken of the soul, when it becomes known. To the other it must be said that it is understood of a knowledge of approval, which is according to predestination to grace, and is not said according to present justice. To the other it must be said that no one can be reborn by the common law, by the regeneration which is through the sacraments, before he is born, because he cannot yet be subject to the operations of the ministers of the Church, through whom this kind of grace is dispensed. But God has not bound his power to the sacraments; and therefore he himself can, by a special privilege, sanctify someone in the womb. Second, it is asked to whom this sanctification belongs. And it seems that it belongs to Christ, of whom it is said in the Gloss, that before he came forth from the womb, he was sanctified in the womb. But on the contrary: to be sanctified is to become holy from not-holy; but he was never not holy: therefore, et cetera. Likewise it seems that it belongs to inanimate things, on account of what is said in Ps. 45: the Most High hath sanctified his tabernacle. On the contrary is that such things are not receptive of grace. And it must be said, to the first, that not-holy is said in two ways. Either privatively, and then the existence of the subject is required; and thus it does not belong to Christ: or negatively; and thus it belongs to Christ to become holy from not-holy, because before he was man, he was not holy with a created holiness. To the other it must be said that holy is said in one way as dedicated to divine worship; and thus animate and inanimate things can be sanctified; but sometimes holy is said of what is firm, or clean either from sin, or from carnal act; and such sanctification is through grace, and possible only in men. But since every sanctification is ordered to that most holy conception of the Son of God, fittingly the mother, in whose womb that conception was accomplished, was sanctified, and John the Baptist, who while still enclosed in the womb, showed the one enclosed in the womb, and Jeremiah, who among others expressly discoursed on the manner of that most holy conception. Below, 21: the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall compass a man. Third, it is asked concerning the effect of sanctification. And it must be known that sanctification is ordered against the uncleanness of original sin, in which one must consider the guilt of the lack of the divine vision arising from the lack of due justice; and this it wholly removed, so far as pertains to the impediment of the person, although the price by which the impediment of nature would be removed was not yet paid. One must also consider the tinder of sin, which is a proneness to every evil; and this indeed remains, like a habit impeded, not inclining to that to which it is ordered: but in others it inclined to venial sin, though not to mortal; but in the Blessed Virgin, to neither of these. Fourth, it is asked concerning the comparison of the grace of sanctification to sacramental grace. And it must be said that, absolutely speaking, the grace of sanctification prevails, because after sacramental grace an inclination to mortal sin remains. But in a certain respect sacramental grace prevails, namely as regards the imprinting of the character and such things. And I said. Here the contradiction of the prophet is set forth: and first he sets forth his own dismay — ah, on account of a defect of life; ah, on account of a defect of knowledge; ah, on account of a defect of eloquence. Ezech. 4: and I said, Ah, ah, ah. Second, he sets forth the reason for his dismay: and he alleges a defect of eloquence: behold, I know not how to speak. Exodus 4: I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before. And the age of boyhood: because I am a boy, wherefore my age does not befit the office of preaching. Job 32: I hoped that greater age would speak, and a multitude of years would teach wisdom. Eccl. 32: speak, thou elder, for it teaches thee. But why this one refused the office of preaching, to which Isaiah offered himself, Isa. 6, Gregory shows in that Gloss: the office (he says) of preaching some laudably seek, to which others are laudably compelled, et cetera. Because this one, out of the love by which he was borne toward God, feared the loss of contemplation, while that one, through love of neighbor, desired the salvation of his neighbors. Yet neither did that one offer himself before his purgation, nor did this one refuse out of obstinacy. And the Lord said. He repels this contradiction. And because he alleged his boyhood, he promises three things against three defects of boys. For boys are inconstant; and against this he promises constancy: say not, in excusing thyself, as to all things that are to be carried out. Below, 10: the way of man is not his own, neither is it for man to walk and direct his own steps. Prov. 3: in all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps. Likewise he promises eloquence against this, that boys are tongueless, and all things. Wis. 10: wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of infants eloquent. He promises boldness against the timidity of boys: fear not, for I am with thee, to deliver thee — not that thou shalt be free from anguish, but that thou shalt bear all things patiently. Ps. 12: I will not fear evils, for thou art with me. And the Lord put forth. Here he bestows the gift of prophecy after the manner of a sacrament. Whence first the action is set forth: the Lord put forth, by an imaginary vision, so that the boy, seeing human limbs, might not be terrified: by which is signified the liberality of the divine goodness. Ps. 103: when thou openest thy hand, all things shall be filled with goodness. But he is not purged beforehand by a fiery coal, as Isaiah was: because, on account of his boyhood and the grace of his sanctification, he had no sins. Second, the words are set forth: and he said to me: which contain three things. First he expresses the gift: behold, I have given. Ps. 67: the Lord shall give the word to them that preach the gospel, with great power. Second, he shows the degree: behold, I have set thee over the nations — diverse ones, to whom he preached, as a mediator between them and God. Exod. 7: behold, I have made thee the god of Pharaoh. Ps. 17: thou wilt make me the head of the nations. Third, he sets forth the office: that thou mayest root out — evils, as to their root; destroy — as to the contrivance of evil ordering; pull down — the joining together of evils; throw down — the defense of evil; build — goods, as to their order; plant — as to their root. For they do not need an outward fortification, as it were a hedge. Eccl. 49: he was consecrated a prophet, to overthrow, to root out and to destroy, and again to build and to renew.”

“Knew, with affection, and designed thee for this office from eternity. Many think (Calmet) that Jeremias was purified from original sin before his birth. (St. Augustine) — He had this privilege, and was also a priest, prophet, virgin, and martyr. (Worthington) — Yet to sanctify, often means only to set aside, Exodus xiii. 2., and Ecclesiasticus xlix. 9. — Nations, whose overthrow he points out, chap. xxv. 27, 44, &c. (Calmet)”

“Set thee apart for the prophetic office. Eccl. 40 : 0; Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1 : 15. St Angus tin thinks that the prophet 'was sanctified by the gift of grace before his birth ; bnt the phrase does not necessarily imply it, since St Paul says of himself that God set him apart from his mother's womb, which in his regard can imply no actual sanctification at that time. The language of Ecclesiasticus, that " he was sanctified a prophet in the womb," is, however, very emphatic.”

“knew--approved of thee as My chosen instrument (Exo 33:12, Exo 33:17; compare Isa 49:1, Isa 49:5; Rom 8:29). sanctified--rather, "separated." The primary meaning is, "to set apart" from a common to a special use; hence arose the secondary sense, "to sanctify," ceremonially and morally. It is not here meant that Jehovah cleansed Jeremiah from original sin or regenerated him by His Spirit; but separated him to his peculiar prophetical office, including in its range, not merely the Hebrews, but also the nations hostile to them (Jer. 25:12-38; 27:1-21; 46:1-51:64), [HENDERSON]. Not the effect, but the predestination in Jehovah's secret counsel, is meant by the sanctification here (compare Luk 1:15, Luk 1:41; Act 15:18; Gal 1:15; Eph 1:11).”