Jeremiah and the Yoke Bars (27:1-22) 319
they who are saying to you. Hebrew >afar-hem >omerfm >alekem. The LXX
omits >alekem, "to you," which van der Kooij (1994: 70) thinks simplifies a re-
dundant Hebrew reading. But the loss is better explained as due to haplogra-
phy (homoeoteleuton: m ... m).
- Indeed a lie they are prophesying to you. Hebrew kf seqer hem nibbe>fm
lakem. On prophesying the "lie" (seqer), which occurs three times here and
nine times in chaps. 27-29, see Note for 23: 14. The kf is taken here as an assev-
erative: "Indeed"; similarly in vv 14 and 16.
in order to remove you far from your soil, for I will disperse you and you will
perish. See v 15, where the same future awaits Judah. The conjunction lema<an
expresses the result as intent (BOB; KB^3 ma<an). See again v 15; also 25:7. BOB
(p. 775) calls the usage rhetorical, where "a line of action, though really un-
designed, is represented ... ironically as if it were designed" (cf. Oeut 29:18).
Prophets preaching rebellion against the king of Babylon have no idea that
their prophecy will bring about their nation's exile, but it will. False prophecy
and Yahweh's judgment will combine to bring both dispersion and death.
to remove you far from your soil. Hebrew harf:ifq >etkem me< al >admatkem. On
the use of >a:dama ("soil, ground") instead of the more usual >ere? ("land"),
which occurs also in the following verse, see Note for 24: 10. The imagery
bcomes bolder and more concrete: the neighboring nations will be exiled far
from their native soil.
for I will disperse you and you will perish. The LXX omits, which appears
to be more haplography (homoeoarcton: wh ... wh, or homoeoteleuton: m
... m). Aquila and Theo have the words. There is no need to propose a borrow-
ing from v 15 (pace Giesebrecht). Yahweh here is prepared to disperse them
among neighboring nations, where they will die.
- I will then leave it on its own soil ... to work it and dwell upon it. Here is
another play on <bd, which means both "serve" and "work (soil or animals)."
See the wordplay in v 7. For the meaning "work, till (the soil)," see Gen 2:5;
4:2, 12. Weiser points out that God's final word is a word of peace, but his way
to peace does not go the way of political and religious freedom, which is what
the leaders are urging. The same thing could be said to leaders in Jerusalem,
and doubtless was.
oracle of Yahweh. The LXX lacks it, but the formula is present in Aq and
Theo.
- And to Zedekiah, king ofludah, I spoke all these words. Jones says: "the
repetition serves to hammer home the message."
Zedekiah. Hebrew ?idqzya. This shortened spelling of the king's name oc-
curs also in 28:1; 29:3; 49:34; and 1 Chr 3:16. In 27:3 the longer form,
?idqfyahU, appears.
Bring your necks into the yoke of the king of Babylon. Plural verbs and
"necks," plural, indicate that this word is not for the king alone but for others in
the royal house (cf. 22:2) and perhaps for the entire nation. The LXX omits
"into the yoke of the king of Babylon," which makes for an inferior reading
(pace McKane). The point has been made that Jeremiah is not to be credited
