Jeremiah 21-36 A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

(Marcin) #1
166 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS

prominently in Jeremiah (and Ezekiel), is not a "Deuteronomistic" idea.
Nothing in any of these oracles requires a post-586 B.C. date, a setting other
than Jerusalem, or an attribution to someone other than Jeremiah (pace
Duhm; Mowinckel 1914: 50; 1956: 167; Thiel 1973: 246-49; McKane). All
can be said to reflect the aftermath of Jerusalem's capitulation to Nebuchad-
nezzar in 597, and the exile following. The oracles also give every indication of
being genuine Jeremiah utterances (Weiser; Holladay). Giesebrecht (p. xxi)
says they emanate from the hand of Baruch.
The three oracles are linked by key words, some of which progress like the
locust parade in Joel 1:4. Key words are the following:

Woe to shepherds ... who scatter the ffock ...


II You, you have scattered my ffock and dispersed them
and you have not reckoned them
Look I will reckon upon you ...

III And I, I will gather ... my ffock ... where I dispersed them ...
And I will raise up ... shepherds who will shepherd them ...
and they shall not be reckoned with

v I

v2

v3
v4

Most of the key words are repetitions, but not to be missed is the contrast between
"You, you have scattered," and "I, I will gather;' made emphatic by the added pro-
nouns "you," >attem, followed by "and I," wa>anf (Holladay l 966b: 422-23).
There is also an audience shift evident when the three oracles are heard in
sequence:

I Yahweh speaks to an unidentified audience
II Yahweh speaks directly to the shepherds
III Yahweh speaks to an unidentified audience

Catchwords connecting to the oracle preceding:

23:3 lands 22:26-29 land (6x)

Catchwords connecting to the oracle following:

v 2 Look I v 5 Look
v 4 And I will raise up when I will raise up

These latter catchwords are noted by both Fishbane (1985: 472) and Parke-
Taylor (2000: 56).


NOTES


23:1. Woe to shepherds who destroy and who scatter the ffock of my pasture. An-
other oracle beginning like 22: 13-17, where the "woe" (hoy) is not a lament but

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