260 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
is again describing the effects of inebriation upon the nations. The Bible, it
should be repeated, does not scruple in ascribing bad (or evil) happenings to
Yahweh (Amos 3:6; 1Sam18:10; 1 Kgs 22:19-23; Isa 19:14).
i\.nd they shall drink. Hebrew wesatil. Ziegler's LXX text omits this verb
(Rahlfs has kai piontai), but it is present in 4QJerc. The omission may be due
to haplography (homoeoarcton: w ... w).
before the sword that I am sending among them. Once drunkenness ensues,
madness follows, and the victims are made helpless before an oncoming sword.
Death comes not from drinking the wine but from the sword. H. W. Robinson
( 1927: 12) says: "The drinking of the cup is obviously a figure of the Babylonian
victories over the nations named." Duhm objects to the juxtaposed images of
"wine" and "sword," wondering whether "before the sword that I am sending
among them" should not be deleted. Cornill and Rudolph do delete, which is
unwarranted (see Rhetoric and Composition). The images are not incompati-
ble; in fact, they are necessary complements. Yahweh has a sword ( 47:6; Isa 27: l;
34:5-7), so do the Babylonians, and both will work as one in finishing off the na-
tions that are now helpless because of drunkenness, vomiting, and madness.
I am sending. The MT has >anokf for the pronoun; 4QJerc has >anf.
- So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and made all the nations to
whom Yahweh sent me drink. Jeremiah is often characterized as the prophet of
resistance ( 1 :6), but he is much more the prophet of obedience, reporting as he
does here and many times elsewhere that he did precisely what Yahweh com-
manded him to do (13:2, 5, 7; 18:3; 25:17; 32:9; 35:3-4; 36:4, 32).
all the nations. The LXX omits "all," as it does twice more in v 22. Other Ver-
sions have it.
- Jerusalem and the cities ofludah, and its kings, its princes, to make them
a ruin, a desolation, an object of hissing, and a swearword, as at this day. More
accumulatio. On strings of curse words such as the present one, see Note for
24:9. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, it should be noted, are first to drink. In
God's economy, judgment begins at home (Matt 7: 1-5; 1 Pet 4: 17), a principle
widely misunderstood by people who seem to find evil lurking everywhere ex-
cept in their own midst. The LXX has "the kings of Judah"; T has just "her
kings." Kimi.ii says "kings" plural refer to Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zede-
kiah, which would make this a prophecy after the fact. But "its kings" may be
an intensive plural, simply meaning "its king" (see Note on 13:13).
and a swearword, as at this day. The LXX omits, which may be attributed to
haplography (homoeoteleuton: h ... h). The concluding "as at this day" is fa-
miliar from Deuteronmy (Deut 2:30; 4:20, 38; 8:18; 10:15; 29:27[Eng 29:28];
cf. Jer 11:5; 32:30) and here is probably a later addition, as most take it (44:6,
23). Rashi dates the phrase post-586 B.C., because in his view Jeremiah wrote
his book after the destruction of Jerusalem. The one adding the words is most
likely Baruch. The phrase is present in Aq, Theod, and T.
- Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his
people. After Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, the next guests to receive Yah-
weh's cup of wrath are Pharaoh, his royal house, and all the people of Egypt.
