234 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSentire communities of Jews were established in Migdal, Tahpanhes, Memphis,
and the land of Pathros in the far south ( 44: 1). There is no basis then for dating
this passage in the middle-exilic or postexilic periods because of a reference
here to Jews living in Egypt (see Rhetoric and Composition), nor is there jus-
tification for deleting the reference, as Volz and Holladay do.- Yes, I will make them a fright, a calamity ... a reproach and a proverb, a
taunt and a swearword. This indignity was anticipated in 18: 16, and did in fact
occur with the destruction of Jerusalem (Lam 2: 15-17). Twice in the poetry
(18:16; 51:37), and often in the prose (19:8; 24:9; 25:9, 11, 18; 29:18; 42:18;
44:6, 8, 12, 22; and 49:13), one comes upon strings of curse words such as the
present one. The distribution of curse words in these strings is as follows:
a fright (za<awa Q; zewa<a Kt): 24:9; 29: 18; 34: 17
a calamity (ra<a): 24:9
a reproach (Qerpd): 24:9; 29:18; 42:18; 44:8, 12; 49:13
a proverb (masal): 24:9
a taunt (senfnd): 24:9
a swearword (qelala): 24:9; 25:18; 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22; 49:13
a desolation (ifammd /semamd): 18:16 (poetry); 19:8; 25:9, 11, 18; 29:18;
42:18; 44:6, 12, 22; 49:13; 51:37 (poetry)
a curse eald): 29:18; 42:18; 44:12
(a) ruin(s) (Qoreb I Qorba I Qorb6t): 25:9, 11, 18; 44:6, 22; 49:13
(an) object(s) of hissing (sereqa I serfq6t Q): 18:16 (poetry); 19:8;
25:9, 18; 29:18; 51:37 (poetry)This rhetoric of accumulation occurs also in Deut 28:37, where two of the
present curse words appear: "proverb" (masal) and "taunt" (senfnd). The pair is
present also in 1 Kgs 9:7. The string here, with the exception of the two words
just mentioned, are common stock in Jeremiah (H. Weippert 1973: 188),
pointing neither to "Deuteronomic" authorship nor later interpolation (pace
Volz; Thiel 1973: 257; Niditch 1980: 54, 62). Jones states: "In no sense can this
section be ascribed to Deuteronomic origin. At most, one can say that in a
verse not germane to the central image of the section [i.e., v 9], there is evi-
dence that the Jeremiah tradition shows familiarity with a specific element
within Deut. and has made it its own" (p. 318). In the Qumran Temple Scroll
(llQT 59:2), one finds this string: "and they will become [a ho]rr[or]
([l]s[mh]), a proverb (lmsl), and a byword (wlifnnyh), and with a heavy yoke
(wb<wl kbd)." Again in l lQT 59:4 is this string: "a waste (lswmh) and a hissing
(wlsrqh) and a desolation (wlQwrbh)" (Yadin 1983: 266).
a fright. Hebrew za<awd (Q). On the Q-Kt spelling, see the Note for 15:4. This
term occurs in Deut 28:25 but most often in Jeremiah (15:4; 24:9; 29:18; 34:17).
a calamity. Hebrew lera<a. This term occurs in a string of curse words only
here. The LXX omits, and many scholars (Cornill; Ehrlich 1912: 307; Con-
damin; Rudolph; Bright; McKane) delete as a dittography of "fright." Volz,
Weiser, and Holladay relocate the word to the end of v 8. Neither change is