220 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTScity. It is also possible that the phrase "also the city that I gave to you and to
your fathers" is a later addition. But "city" can stand in the text (pace Volz, who
substitutes "land"), which argues for retaining the entire phrase.
from my presence. Hebrew me<al panay. The LXX omits, but apo prosopou
mou is present in Aq, Symm, and Theod. Cain after his sin and banishment went
out "from the presence of Yahweh" (Gen 4: 16). David, too, after his sin asked
that Yahweh not cast him away from his presence but restore him (Ps 51: l 3-
14[Eng 51:11-12]).- an eternal reproach and an eternal disgrace that will not be forgotten. He-
brew l;.erpat <olam ilkelimmilta:ser lo> tissakeal;.. This terminology of
shame is all Jeremianic. Hebrew kelimmilt ("disgrace") is a hapax legomenon
in the OT, but the more common kelimmd occurs in 3:25; 20: 11; and 51:51.
"Reproach" (l;.erpa) is very common in Jeremiah (see Note for 24:9), appearing
together with "disgrace" in 51: 51. The expression "will not be forgotten" oc-
curs also in 20: 11 and 50: 5; in the former almost the exact phrase appears as
here: "eternal disgrace will not be forgotten." On shame in the ancient world,
see Note for 2:26.
MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
Yahweh in the first oracle tells Jeremiah how to answer anyone in conversation
who says, "What is the burden of Yahweh?" He is to say, "You are the burden,
and I will cast you off." Not covenant language exactly but having the sound,
nevertheless, of a covenant curse. Yahweh restates his answer unambiguously:
Whoever says "the burden of Yahweh" can expect punishment, and it will be
carried out not only upon the errant individual but upon his entire house. This
judgment seems unusually harsh for just using a disallowed expression, but in
the background is doubtless a problem of greater magnitude. If the question
put to Jeremiah is a taunt by clergy and people more attuned to prophecies of
peace, the ban will have the greater purpose of censuring individuals who
refuse to hear Yahweh's true word, and the judgment will have the greater pur-
pose of punishing individuals who are putting their trust in a false word and are
thereby becoming false themselves.
Jeremiah conveys this word to the people, emphasizing that by using this
tired expression and by peddling burdens of their own making they are, in fact,
perverting words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts. Not by accident does Jere-
miah add "our God," which affirms a oneness with the people. If the people do
not dispense with empty phrases and empty prophecies, a second oracle is
given them. It spells out what will happen if the people disobey the word they
have just heard. Yahweh will reward their disobedience and reckless disregard
for his true word by lifting them up and casting them out from his presence.
The city given to them and to their fathers he will also abandon. A people that
revels in heaping abuse on Yahweh's messengers will, in the end, earn for
themselves eternal reproach and eternal disgrace. Whereas the abuse they toss
about will be forgotten, the shame they are destined to bear will endure.