Jeremiah 1:5

I knew thee meaning not mere acquaintance, but choice as a consequence of knowledge. The parallelism of contrast, frequent in the poetical books of the Bible, shews this to be the sense of the word in Psalms 1:6, "The Lord knoweththe way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish"; cp. Genesis 18:19, "For I have knownhim, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord"; Amos 3:2, "You only have I knownof all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities."

before thou camest forth Cp. Luke 1:15; Luke 1:35; also Judges 13:5.

I sanctified thee i.e. consecrated or set apart for My service. See Exodus 13:2; Leviticus 27:14 ff., and often elsewhere.

unto the nations See Intr. Jeremiah 2:3 (b).