Speaking of Prophets (23:9-40) 197
heard." Rashi says the first occurrence of the verb has to do with actual hear-
ing, the second with acceptance (NEB: "and obeyed"). Some commentators
(Giesebrecht; Duhm; Volz; Weiser; Rudolph) and some modem Versions (JB;
NAB; NRSV) repaint the second occurrence to an H-stem, "so he may an-
nounce (it)," which wrongly assumes the same meaning as in v 22. Here the
emphasis is on hearing, not preaching.
- Look! the tempest ofYahweh. "Look" (hinneh) is the most common be-
ginning of a Jeremianic oracle (see Note for 1:9), except that here Jeremiah
is the speaker, not Yahweh. Hebrew se'ara is not the legendary sirocco (on
which see Note for 4: 11) but a swirling tempest with rain, perhaps a tornado
(Ezek 13: 11, 13). Both winds are OT metaphors for coming destruction. The
wind cited here occurs again in 25:32, where it describes Babylonian storm
troops engulfing nation after nation. As a metaphor of Yahweh's judgment,
see Amos 1:14. This same wind is the whirlwind that took Elijah up to
heaven (2 Kgs 2:1, 11) and the whirlwind out of which Yahweh spoke to Job
(Job 38:1; 40:6).
wrath goes forth. Hebrew Qema ya~e>a. A portion of the stereotypical threat
occurring in 4:4 and 21:12 (see Note on 4:4). Some commentators (Volz; Ru-
dolph; Weiser; Bright; McKane) delete Qemd ("wrath") as a gloss, which is
without basis. The line can be read as a tricolon. One also need not revocalize,
with G. R. Driver (l 950a: 413), to Q6md ("hot"), an adjective modifying "the
tempest of Yahweh" (cf. NEB and REB).
yes, a whirling tempest. The masculine sa'ar ("tempest") may intentionally
vary the feminine sa'arat used in the first colon (Holladay). Nouns in poetry
usually match with respect to gender, but sometimes genders are switched for
special effect (Watson 1980). The verb Qfil means "(do a) dance, whirl," and
mitQ8lel (Hithpolel) anticipates yaQfil (Qal) in the following colon.
Upon the head of the wicked it whirls. The LXX omits "head," as it does also
in 30:23. The omission in this verse or the other in the LXX's Hebrew Vorlage
can be attributed to haplography (homoeoarcton: r ... r). Duhm and Holladay
note the assonance in ro>s resa'fm ("the head of the wicked"), another reason
for retaining "head."
- the anger ofYahweh does not tum back until it does and until it fulfills the
purposes of his heart. See Note for 4:8. The anger of Yahweh is as sure as his
word: it does not return empty (cf. Isa 55:11). The point here is not that Yah-
weh's anger cannot be averted, since it can be ( 18: 7-8; 26: 3 ), but that when the
anger does pour forth, it will accomplish what it set out to do. "Heart" (Zeb) re-
fers here to the divine will.
In the days afterward. Hebrew be>aQarft hayyamfm. On this expression,
which means "in future days" or "in days to come," see also 30:24; 48:47; 49:39;
Gen 49:1; Num 24:14; Deut 4:30; 31:29; Isa 2:2; and Ezek 38:16. KimJ:ii thinks
that reference here is to the Messianic Era, but the consensus otherwise is that
eschatological meaning is not present in the preexilic use of this expression
(Lipinski l 970a: 450), as, for example, one finds in Dan 2:28 and 10: 14, where
it has become a technical term for the End Times (Seebass, TDOT 1: 210-11).
