Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 1:10

"see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." — Jeremiah 1:10 (ASV)

I have this day set thee ... — With the gift, and therefore the consciousness, of a new power, comes a prospective view of the greatness of the work before him.

This initial vision would at first have been too much for the mortal vessel of the truth to bear.

He is at once set—literally, made the “deputy” or representative of God (for example, the “officer” found in Judges 9:28 and 2 Chronicles 24:11, or the “chief governor” in Jeremiah 20:1)—over the nations and the kingdoms.

The “nations” refers, as before, to those external to Israel, and the “kingdoms” includes Israel itself.

The work at first seems one simply of destruction—to root out and ruin (so we may represent the alliterative assonance of the Hebrew), to destroy and rend apart. But beyond that, there is the hope of a work of construction. He is to build up the fallen ruins of Israel, to plant in the land that had been made desolate. The whole sequel of the book is a comment on these words. It passes through terror and darkness to the glory and the blessing of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31).