224 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS(25-26, 35-36) structured similarly, on which see Rhetoric and Composition
for 25:1-14.
The upper limit of the present unit is marked by a superscription and intro-
duction in v 1, before which is a petul:zah in MA and MP and a setumah in ML
before verse 1. This is also the chapter division. The lower limit is marked by
a petul:zah in MA, ML, and MP after v 10, which is another chapter division. A
new superscription and introduction come in 25: 1-2. The MA and MP also
have a petul:zah and the ML a setumah after v 2, which separates the report of a
vision received by Jeremiah and the divine-human dialogue occurring in that
vision. The MA and ML also have a petul:zah and the MP a setumah after v 3,
which separates the dialogue from Oracle I. Both of these latter sections
appear to be guided by first-person introductions: "And Yahweh said to me,"
beginning v 3 and "And the word of Yahweh came to me," beginning v 4.
The MA, ML, and MP all have a setumah after v 7, separating Oracle I from
Oracle II.
The present narrative then consists of: 1) a vision report in the first person,
dated in general terms, containing a dialogue between Yahweh and Jeremiah
(vv 1-4); and 2) two prose oracles giving the vision an interpretation (vv 5-7
and vv 8-10). The date in v 1 seems parenthetical, but this does not mean that
it is secondary, as some commentators allege (see Notes). This is simply one of
many dating notices integrated into prose narratives in this part of the book,
and as was mentioned, it doubles as a catchline linking chap. 24 to chap. 29 in
an earlier rhetorical structure. The two oracles address two communities of
people: Judahites recently spirited away to a Babylonian exile and a remnant
of the same left in the land. Both communities are spoken of in the third per-
son. Yahweh addresses neither of them directly, as he does Jeremiah in the
opening dialogue.
Views vary considerably on the authenticity and provenance of this narra-
tive, some attributing it to Jeremiah and dating all or part of it to Zedekiah's
reign (Giesebrecht; Cornill; Mowinckel 1914: 21 [?]; Volz; Rudolph; Weiser;
Bright; Thompson; Holladay; Craigie et al.; Jones), others assigning the whole
of it to a postexilic editor (Duhm; May 1942; Hyatt; Thiel 1973: 253-61; Pohl-
mann 1978: 20-31; Zimmerli 1982: 109-14; Carroll; Rofe 1989: 396; Beyerlin
1989: 58-67; McKane). Mowinckel was uncertain about the passage, and both
Volz and Holladay are required to make considerable deletions to come up
with an "original form." Duhm, Pohlmann, and McKane find not so much as
a Jeremianic kernel in the chapter, McKane viewing it as a pastiche made from
other passages in the Hebrew Bible.
Arguments for a late date and non-Jeremianic origin, together with counter-
views in older and more recent scholarship, include the following:
•Verse 8 speaks of Jewish exiles already in Egypt; therefore, the narrative
must postdate the fall of Jerusalem or be even later, when the Jewish
people were divided in two-in Egypt and in Babylon (Duhm; Hyatt;
Thiel; Zimmerli; McKane). KimJ:ii also says the verse refers to those who