Jeremiah 21-36 A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

Indictment of Judah and the Nations (25:1-38) 257

shorter LXX text is once again not the better or more original text (pace

Schwally 1888; Duhm; Peake; Cornill; Holladay; McKane; and others); rather,

it is a seriously flawed text. For more on the authenticity or lack of the same in

chap. 25, see Rhetoric and Composition for 25:1-14.

Yahweh's directive to Jeremiah links up with Oracle I to the nations by the

following repetitions and balancing key words (cf. Cassuto l 973c: 224):

And they shall drink and retch and go mad

before the sword that I am sending among them

Drink and be drunk, yes, vomit and fall ...

before the sword that I am sending among you

v 16

v 27b

The words "before the sword that I am sending among them" in v 16 should

not be deleted (pace Cornill; Rudolph). The repetition gives every indication

of being intentional, reverting as it does to what was stated at the beginning.

NOTES

25: 15. For thus Yahweh, God o{Israel, said to me. This first-person introduction
expands the more usual "Thus Yahweh said to me," which appears in 13: 1;
17: 19; and 27:2. The LXX lacks the initial kf ("for"), which could be due to
haplography (homoeoarcton: k ... k). The particle need not be secondary
(pace Rudolph; Holladay; McKane). The combination kf koh occurs often in
the book, e.g., in 22:6, 11; 27:19; 28:14; 29:8, 10, 16; 30:5, 12; 31:7; and else-
where. The LXX also lacks the phrase "to me," which was probably in the origi-
nal (Giesebrecht; cf. T: "to me").
Take this wrath-filled cup of wine from my hand, and make all the nations to
whom I am sending you drink it. This is generally agreed to be the report of a vi-
sion (Kim}:ii; Calvin; Duhm; Cornill; and most modern commentators). In this
vision, Jeremiah, the cupbearer (cf. Gen 40:11-13), takes from Yahweh's hand
the wine of wrath and serves it to the nations. H. W. Robinson ( 1927: 12-13)
says the vision implies no real cup and has no corresponding symbolic act.
Nevertheless, it does have symbolic significance (Lindblom 1965: 130-31).
The setting may be a banquet that Yahweh is hosting for the nations, which
will take an unexpected turn (H. W. Robinson; Holladay; cf. Zeph 1:7-8; Jer
51:39). A painted pitcher from Ras Shamra depicts El sitting at a table, with
goblet in hand, hosting what appears to be a sacrificial meal (Schaeffer 1963:
211, fig. 30; cf. Dahood l 966a: 70).
Take this wrath-filled cup of wine. Hebrew qal} )et-kos hayyayin hal}ema
hazzo)t. On the divine imperatives qab and qel}u ("Take!") issued to the
prophet, see Note for 43:9. The construction here is difficult because both
"wine" and "wrath" have the definite article. Giesebrecht takes the two terms
as being in apposition to one another ("the wine" = "the wrath"), which is ac-
cepted by Peake and explained as such in GKC § 13 lk, although in the Gram-
mar it is said that "the wrath" is probably a gloss. D. N. Freedman suggests