352 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
(Ephcal 1978: 81). The LXX achieves broader meaning with tes ges ("of the
land"), which would presuppose ha> are$. But emendation is not required (Hol-
laday). Aquila and Symm both have tes poleos ("of the city"), and "city" is the
reading in S, T, and Vg.
and pray on its behalf to Yahweh, for in its welfare will be welfare for you.
What is good for your city in Babylonia will be good for you. The LXX has "pray
concerning them," i.e., the people. Prayer for the welfare of a foreign ( = hea-
then) nation is a radical idea in the OT, but Jeremiah shows himself once
again to be an untiring man of prayer (Volz). In the apocryphal book of
Baruch, the people are told to pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar and his son
(Bar I: 11). The present verse also stands behind a later statement in the Mish-
nah (Aboth 3:2): "Pray for the peace of the ruling power, since but for fear of
it men would have swallowed up each other alive." In the NT one can cite
Jesus' words in Matt 5:44 ("Pray for those who persecute you") and Paul's
counsel regarding governing authorities in Romans 13. Calvin said that pray-
ing for the ruling power applied also to his day.
welfare. The Heb word is salom, which can also be translated "peace" or
"well-being."
- Do not let your prophets who are in your midst or your diviners deceive you;
also do not listen to your dreamers whom you cause to dream. Duhm and Cornill
delete vv 8-9, a decision that eliminates the repudiation of (false) prophets and
diviners in the letter. This deletion finds favor with Thiel ( 1981: 11-19) and
McKane but with few others. Volz says that the verses cannot be omitted if
false prophecy is a main object of the letter. Also, we seem to have here the
same message delivered to the Babylonian exiles that was earlier delivered in
Jerusalem (chaps. 27-28). The deletion, then, is without textual basis and is to
be rejected. Here is a self-contained oracle on false prophecy, fitting in per-
fectly well with other oracles in the letter, particularly Oracle VII (vv 21-23).
Relocation of the verses after v 15 is also unnecessary (pace Rudolph; JB [but
not NJB]; NAB).
your prophets. The LXX has hoi pseudoprophetai, "the false prophets" (see
v I), lacking also "your," which the reading it has does not require. Ezekiel
could not have been numbered among these prophets, since his call came in
593 B.C.
your diviners. Hebrew qosemekem. Judahite prophets are said to be practic-
ing divination (qesem) in 14: 14 but only in the present verse are "diviners" said
to be active in the Judahite community. Other references to diviners in the
book of Jeremiah are in the context of foreign nations (27:9; habbaddfm in
50:36). Perhaps now in a foreign country Jewish diviners have new freedom to
practice their secret arts. In Israel and Judah, they were officially outlawed (see
Note for 27:9).
your dreamers whom you cause to dream. The MT's halomotekem ("your
dreams"), which despite support from LXX and Vg, is best repointed to ~alo
motekem or emended to ~olemekem ("your dreamers"), as in 27:9 (Ehrlich
1912: 314; Volz; Soggin 1975f; Holladay). The T has "your dreamers of
