164 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTScommandments that "there shall not be found for him a man to sit upon the
throne of his fathers all the days" (Yadin 1983: 268-69; Brooke 1997: 202).MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
Jeremiah begins here by asking if this man, Coniah, is a piece of throwaway
pottery, and if not, why he and his offspring are hurled violently into a land they
know not? Is no one listening? The prophet then turns to address the land-
three times he calls to it, admonishing it to hear Yahweh's word. Then the
divine voice is heard, addressing ready scribes with the words: "Write this man
down childless," for he will not prosper in his days. Nor will his offspring pros-
per: Coniah will not have even one of his sons to sit upon the throne of David.
This dialogue poem can be dated to 597 B.C., just after Jehoiachin, his wives,
and whatever family he had began the long walk to Babylon. Together with the
oracle preceding, we have "before-and-after" utterances marking this sad
event. Yahweh has the first and last word; Jeremiah speaks his lament in the
middle. Here the prophet is heard to echo, with deep feeling, Yahweh's words
about Jehoiachin and the royal family's being flung into a strange land.11. The Call Is Out for New Shepherds (23: 1-4)
23 1 Woe to shepherds who destroy and who scatter the flock of my pas-
ture-oracle of Yahweh.(^2) Therefore thus said Yahweh, God of Israel, against the shepherds who shep-
herd my people:
You, you have scattered my flock and dispersed them, and you have not
reckoned them. Look I will reckon upon you your evil doings-oracle of
Yahweh.
(^3) And I, I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I dis-
persed them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, and they shall be
fruitful and multiply.^4 And I will raise up over them shepherds who will
shepherd them. And they shall not again be afraid, and they shall not be
broken, and they shall not be reckoned with-oracle of Yahweh.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
The King Collection is brought to a conclusion with the oracles of 23:1-8,
which, together with the oracles and narrative prose of 21: 1-10, make an outer
frame for the whole. These oracles indict and judge Judah's shepherds, prom-
ising after the judgment meted out upon them Yahweh's selection of new shep-
herds who will do the job properly. These shepherds are the kings, primarily,
although other leaders are included. However, in Yahweh's future the pastoral
number will be reduced to a single Branch of Davidic stock, who will execute