230 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
the verb sgr, "to shut someone in." The noun masger in the OT otherwise
means "prison" (Isa 24:22; 42:7; Ps 142:8[Eng 142:7]). The Vg follows the LXX
with inclusorem. D. N. Freedman suggests that the added LXX term could
point to a loss of we)et-he'a.Sfr ("and the rich") in the MT by haplography (ho-
moeoteleuton: r ... r). Hebrew 'asfr, another collective noun, occurs without
the article in 9:22[Eng 9:23]. Smiths would also be useful to Nebuchadrezzar
in Babylon, and their loss at home might prevent remaining Judahites from
producing arms for a revolt.
to Babylon. Hebrew babel. The preposition "to" is omitted by ellipsis. See
again 28:3; also Jere~ kasdfm ("to the land of the Chaldeans") in v 5. Ellipsis in
proper nouns that represent a point of destination occurs elsewhere in the Jer-
emianic prose, e.g., in 26:10 and 33:11 ("to the house of Yahweh"); in 31:6 ("to
Zion"); in 31 :38 ("to the Corner Gate"); in 43:7 ("to the land of Egypt"); and in
44:28 ("to the land of Judah").
- The one basket had very good figs, like the early figs. Hebrew te)ene hab-
bakkurot are the first-ripe figs of late May or early June (Post 1932-33 II: 515;
idem, "Figs" in HDB 3: 6), but since the good figs here are only like early figs,
we cannot be sure whether they were early figs. Early figs, in any case, are re-
ferred to often in the OT (Hos 9:10; Isa 28:4; Mic 7:1; Nah 3:12) and were
considered a special delicacy (Rashi; Cheyne). In the Near East, fig trees bear
two, sometimes three crops, one a winter fruit, ripening as early as Passover
on last year's branches (Post; Pliny, Nat Hist xv 19; cf. Matt 21: 19; Mark
11:13; Rev 6: 13). Summer figs turn ripe in late August or early September.
The fig tree in the OT is a symbol of peace and prosperity (1 Kgs 4:25; Isa
36: 16; Mic 4:4; Zech 3: 10; 1 Mace 14: 12). See further on figs and fig trees,
P. J. King 1993: 148-49.
and the other basket very bad figs, which could not be eaten because they were
so bad. The mem on meroa' is causative: lit., "because of their being bad" (GKC
§ l l 9z; cf. merob in Gen 16: IO and 1 Kgs 8:5). Figs need to be fully ripe for good
eating, but these have become rotten. The point is stated more strongly in
29: 17, where the expression "horrid figs" (te)enfm hasso'a.rfm) occurs.
- And Yahweh said to me: 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' And I said: 'Figs! The
good figs are very good, and the bad ones very bad, which cannot be eaten be-
cause they are so bad. The same question-and-answer form occurs in 1: 11, 13,
and elsewhere in vision narratives (see Note for 1:11). The LXX lacks the re-
peated "figs" (te)enfm) in Jeremiah's answer, which Janzen (1973: 117) says
may have been lost through haplography (whole-word).
- And the word of Yahweh came to me. A superscription of the type found in
1 :4, 11, and 13. See Note for 1:4.
- Thus said Yahweh, God of Israel. This messenger formula should not be
deleted (pace Volz; Rudolph; Weiser; Holladay; McKane). The LXX, T, and Vg
all have it. The vision is not a private message for Jeremiah but a message for
the entire Judahite community, at home as well as abroad.
Like these good figs, so will I regard the exiles ofludah. On the ke ... ken con-
struction, here and again in v 8, see Note for 2:26. Already in 597 B.C., Jere-
