Letters to the Exiles (29:1-32) 359seqer, occurs in Prov 13:5), but his conclusion that this is a sure indication of
poetry cannot be right, at least not here.
But I am he who knows and am witness. This climactic word concludes the
letter. Yahweh witnesses things that others do not (7: 11; 16: 17; 23:24), although
it appears here that others too have learned about the wrongdoing, which is
what usually happens.
he who knows. The translation follows J. D. Michaelis (1793: 228-29), who
redivides the Kt to read hu' yodea', "But I am he who knows and am witness."
The pronoun hU stands for hU', where the 'aleph has fallen away. This reading
has been adopted by G. R. Driver (1960: 123) and others. The Q hayyOdea'
("the one who knows") has roughly the same meaning. The LXX omits the
word, but Aq and Theod have it (kai ego eimi ho gnostes kai martus).MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
An introduction here tells a Jerusalem audience that Jeremiah wrote to all the
exiles in Babylon after their deportation from Jerusalem in 597 B.C. and that
the words following are from this letter. They hear first an oracle in which Yah-
weh tells the exiles to build houses and live in them, plant gardens, and eat
their fruit. Men are also to take wives and have families, and the sons and
daughters are to marry and have families. It is a new creation. The exiles must
be fruitful and multiply, just like their ancestors who were slaves in Egypt.
Moreover, they are to seek the welfare of the city where they now reside, for in
its welfare will be their welfare.
A second oracle repeats the message currently being preached in Jerusalem.
People are not to listen to prophets and would-be prophets who are dreaming
of a speedy return home. These visionaries are speaking lies in Yahweh's name,
and Yahweh says he has not sent them.
A third oracle states that, when Babylon has completed 70 years in the ser-
vice of Yahweh, Yahweh will fulfill his good word to return the covenant
people to Judah-but not in two years or four years or ten years. The length of
their punishment will be 70 years. Yahweh says he knows the plans he has for
the covenant people-plans of shalom and not evil, which will give them a fu-
ture and a hope. Then the people will pray to him and he will listen-some-
thing that has not happened of late. If the people seek Yahweh with all their
heart, they will find him. Another brief oracle (v l 4a) states that Yahweh will
indeed be found by his people and will restore the fortunes recently lost. A fifth
oracle ( v 14b) states that Yahweh will gather the exiles from all the places
where he has dispersed them, and he will bring them back to the place from
which they were taken.
Jeremiah then quotes what the exiles are saying about Yahweh's having
raised up for them prophets in Babylon. According to the text as it now stands,
these prophets are making grand claims about how things will improve mark-
edly in Jerusalem. To this incurable optimism Jeremiah responds with an or-
acle concerning the king and those remaining in Jerusalem. In it Yahweh says