110 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSspecified (apostrophe). This explains the many pronoun changes, one of
which is eliminated by a Qere reading in v 12:Yahweh admonishes the royal house directly to execute justice v 12a
Yahweh warns of possible judgment to an unspecified audience v 12bII Yahweh accuses Jerusalem directly of "sitting pretty" v l 3a
Boast of impregnability is quoted to an unspecified audience v l 3bIII Yahweh speaks directly to the royal house of coming judgment v l 4a
Yahweh speaks judgment to an unspecified audience v 14bIt is doubtful whether Jeremiah spoke any of these oracles to the royal house in
person. The dramatic element suggests, rather, a delivery to ordinary citizens
in the Temple courtyard or at some other public place.
Within the King Collection is a collection of oracles to the royal house con-
sisting of 21:11-22:5 (see Rhetoric and Composition for 21: 1-10). This collec-
tion contains an inclusio, where the opening of Oracle I here in 21: 12 balances
the opening of Oracle I in 22:3-4:21: 12 Execute justice in the morning
and rescue the robbed from the oppressor's hand22:3 Do justice and righteousness
and rescue the robbed from the oppressor's handIt is possible that this beginning poetry in the King Collection was at some
earlier time attached by catchword to the final poetry in chap. 20. Holladay
suggests boqer ("morning") as the catchword:20: 16 Let him hear a cry in the morning (babboqer)
21: 11 Execute justice in the morning (labboqer)Catchwords connecting to the previous unit:v 12 fire v 10 fireCatchwords connecting to the unit following:21: 11 the house of the king of Judah 22: 1 the house of the king ofludahNOTES
21:11-12. To the house of the king ofludah. Hebrew lebet melek yehada. The
MT has a copulative ( waw) at the beginning, which appears to be a later add-
on, creating continuity with what precedes (Rudolph). The words originally