Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8)
Woe to him who builds his house ...
C And he frames for himself windows
and panels in cedar (ba'arez)
Are you a king because you compete in cedar? (ba'arez)
They shall not lament for him
B' ...................... [Jehoiakim]
Go up to Lebanon and scream (hallebanon)
and in the Bashan raise your voice!
A' You who dwell in Lebanon (ballebanon) ...
nested in the cedars (ba'arazfm)
(22: 13-17)
(22:18-19)
(22:20-23)
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The present oracle has two stanzas, each of which is two bicolons in qinah
(3:2) meter (Giesebrecht; Hyatt). The whole has this key word balance (Lund-
bom 1975: 48-49 [ = 1997: 67-68]):
v 6a
.................. Lebanon
II ................... cedars v 7b
The poetry also has assonance:
....... 'asfteka ............. ....... I will make...... v 6b
II .......... mas/:iitfm .. 'fs .... ..... destroyers ... person v 7 a
....................... ha'es ..................... the fire v 7b
Yahweh is the speaking voice throughout, addressing directly the royal palace
(apostrophe). Jeremiah, or else a later voice, is the speaker of the question-and-
answer dialogue.
The prose comment is linked to the oracle by these key words:
v 6 cities v 8 city (2x)
each person 'IS each person 'fs
Catchwords connecting to the preceding unit are the following (Mowinckel
1946: 49):
v 6 the house of the king of Judah v l the house of the king of Judah