1:2 to whom the word of the Lord came. This phrase often opens prophetic books (cf. Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Mic. 1:1). Jeremiah’s recorded words, therefore, are God’s words.

Josiah. He was a godly king who undertook a major religious reform beginning in 628 b.c. (2 Kin. 22; 23; 2 Chr. 34; 35); Jeremiah approves of him (22:15, 16), though he makes few specific references to the reform.

thirteenth year. That is, 626 b.c.