140 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSBellum Iugurthinum xxxi 26; Loeb), urged people on to exact vengeance
from their enemies.
and for shedding innocent blood. Warnings about not shedding innocent
blood are given by Jeremiah in 7:6 and 22:3, the latter issued specifically to
the king. The charge of innocent blood is made against Jehoiakim in 2 Kgs
24:4, an example of which was his murder of Uriah the prophet (Jer 26:20-
23). Innocent blood will also be shed by others when the reigning king sheds
it with impunity. Reference is made elsewhere to murders of the innocent
needy (2:34) and murders of the very young sacrificed on altars to Baal ( 19:4).
Jeremiah saw fit to warn the court about shedding innocent blood when he
himself was on trial, which, not surprisingly, was during Jehoiakim's reign
(26:15).
and for practicing oppression and running. Hebrew ha<oseq is clear; it
means "(the act of) oppression" (6:6), otherwise "(the act of) extortion" (NJV:
"fraud"). The term hammeru:Ja is less certain, with little help being supplied
by an embellished Treading ("what is your soul's good pleasure"), and by the
reading of LXX (phonon, "slaughter, murder"). Jerome in his commentary has
"murder" (homicidium). Cornill believes the LXX's phonon is derived from
the verb r:J:J, "to crush, oppress," a suggestion made earlier by Giesebrecht.
However, "murder" may be a bit strong or, at the very least, an imprecise ren-
dering of this root (KB^3 has a meru$a II meaning "exortion"; BOB, 954, a
noun meaning "crushing, oppression"), and the likelihood is that this transla-
tion owes its derivation to what has just been said about "shedding innocent
blood." The more common solution, which is also contextually derived, is to
take merf1$a as a hapax legomenon in the OT and translate it with a synonym
of "oppression," e.g., "violence," "extortion" or "tyranny" (Rashi; Kimi.ii;
Calvin; also the majority of recent commentators and modern Versions).
Rashi notes a pairing of the verbs <sq and r$? in 1 Sam 12:3, saying that the ref-
erence here is to "the crushing of the poor." But Ehrlich (1912: 299) says
meru$a cannot mean "oppression" or "extortion" and must carry its usual
meaning of "running" or "zeal" (from rut}; cf. BOB, 930). The term means
"manner of running, course" in 8:6 (Q); 23:10; and 2 Sam 18:27. Aquila and
Symm in the present text have ton dromon, "the running, fleeing," and Je-
rome in the Vg translates cursum, "running, course." I suggest therefore that
hammerf1$d be rendered "(the) manner of running," where reference is being
made to the king's habit of running from responsibility for evil deeds he has
done. On another occasion, Jeremiah faulted fellow prophets for running
(ru$) on false errands (23:21). Particular notice should also be taken of 12:5,
where the verbs "run" (rf1$) and "hotly compete" (~rh Tiphel) occur together.
This is precisely what we have here ( ~rh Tiphel occurs in v 15). Jeremiah is
talking about a king continually on the run, one who "(hotly) competes" in
cedar construction but after committing evil is in the habit of "running
(away)." If there did exist a noun mern:Ja meaning "oppression;' then here at
the end we might have a play on words.