94 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSwhoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you
shall live: and his life will be his booty.(^10) For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good-oracle
of Yahweh. Into the hand of the king of Babylon it shall be given, and he
will burn it with fire.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
Chapters 2 I-23forman appendixto the ~irst E;c}ition (1._20), in which is con-
falned-viaous J~r~~iaiiic utterances, narrative, and a minimum of added
comment concerning I) Judah's kings (2 I: I-23:8); and 2) Jerusalem's prophets
(23:9-40). In the present book these chapters constitute an entirely new sec-
tion (Giesebrecht; Streane; Lundbom I 975: 28-30 [ = I 997: 42-44]), having no
obvious continuity with what precedes. The suggestion by J. D. Michaelis
(I 793: I 3 7), repeated by Rudolph and others, that the name "Pashhur" in 20: I-
6 and 2l:l bridges the division is unlikely. The prose of 20:I-6 and 2l:l-IO is
not otherwise linked. The core poetry of 2I: I-23:8 and 23:9-40, however, does
preserve an earlier continuity created by catchwords. Chapters 2 I-24 do not
constitute a literary unit, as is sometimes alleged (see Thiel I 973: 230); chap.
24 begins a new unit terminating now with chap. 36 (see Rhetoric and Com-
position for 24:I-IO).
An earlier "King Collection" was introduced by lebet melek yehada ("To the
house of the king of Judah") in 2 I: I I, just as the "Prophet Collection" now has
the introductory lannebi>fm ("To the prophets") in 23:9. The compositional
criterion for the two collections is "audience" (Westermann I 967: 95-96),
which is true also in the case of the Foreign Nation Oracles. The discourse-
prophetic and otherwise-emanates from different periods, although most of it
can confidently be assigned to the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (Weiser).
It should not be assumed that everything in the King Collection comes from
Zedekiah's reign because 2l:I-IO records preaching from that time. Some is
earlier. The controlling structure of the King Collection is rhetorical, not chro-
nological. Also, in three places within chaps. 2 I-36, Zedekiah narrative is
placed ahead of Jehoiakim narrative: I) here in 2l:l-IO; 2) in chap. 24, which
precedes earlier material in chaps. 25-26; and 3) in chap. 34, which precedes
earlier material in chaps. 3 5-36.
The outer frame of the King Collection comprises 2l:l-IO and 23:I-8. Or-
acles in these two units, 21:3-7 and 23:5-6, contrast Zedekiah to a messianic
king who will be what Zedekiah is not. This future king will be named ''Yah-
weh is our righteousness" (23:6), a play and reversal on the name "Zedekiah,"
which means "My righteousness is Yahweh." In the frame, then, is an inclusio
repeating subtly the point made by the wordplay in 23:6 (Lundbom I975: 3I-
32 [= I997: 45-47]):
'Reading the Kt yil:zyeh ("he shall live"); the Q has wef:zaya ("then he shall live"); cf. 38:2.