362 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSafter which comes a fragment of that letter, having an oracle similarly frag-
mented (vv 25-28). A brief narrative follows (vv 29-31), which introduces a
concluding oracle destined for Shemaiah the Nehelamite (v 32). Delimitation
<it the top end is by a setumah in ML and a petubah in MP before v 24. At the
bottom end is a setumah in ML and a petubah in MP after v 32, which is also a
chapter division. An entirely new collection, the Book of Restoration, begins
at 30: 1. Section markings for MA are not extant. The ML and MP have another
petubah after v 29, which separates a brief narrative statement from the intro-
duction to the oracle against Shemaiah. The MP (only) has another setumah
after v 31, separating the introduction to the Shemaiah oracle from the oracle
itself.
On the type of narrative constituting the whole of chap. 29 and the various
problems associated with the chapter's composition, see Rhetoric and Compo-
sition for 29:1-23. Here in vv 24-32, the texts of both MT and LXX present dif-
ficulties, but the LXX-particularly with Zephaniah taking a rebuke for having
reviled Jeremiah in v 27-is particularly confused (Giesebrecht: "completely
distorted"; Peake: "an incoherent jumble") and of no help in reconstructing a
coherent text. Here, too, there are more LXX omissions, a number of which
can be attributed to haplography.
The main problem with vv 25-28 in the MT is that Jeremiah recounts
what has been said in letters sent by Shemaiah to Jerusalem, but then the text
breaks off abruptly. We anticipate a response from Jeremiah, but none is forth-
coming. Jeremiah's judgment on Shemaiah comes only later, when he is
commanded by Yahweh to write the exiles a third letter (vv 30-31). The sec-
ond letter must then be only part of a longer letter, and its oracle only part of
a larger oracle. Letters in antiquity were often semi-public, containing mes-
sages for entire communities. They were like the modem missionary letter
sent from the field to families and the churches back home. Jeremiah's first
letter was intended for a broad audience ("to the remnant of the elders ... to
the priests and to the prophets, and to all the people"), and Letter III was also
to be sent "to all the exiles" in Babylon. Similarly, Letter II in its entirety must
have been for a broad audience, not just Shemaiah, with only part of it com-
ing to be included in the biblical text. Other parts not deemed important
were edited out. The sequence of events lying behind all of chap. 29 can then
be reconstructed as follows:
1) Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles in Babylon, which we may have in
full in vv 4-23. In it he told them to build houses, plant gardens, and
have families, because the exile would be long.
2) Shemaiah, most likely a prophet in Babylon, then wrote a number of
letters to influential people in Jerusalem, objecting to what Jeremiah
had said in his letter. In these letters, he asked why Jeremiah had not
been censured.
3) Jeremiah at some point heard about the content of these letters and
sent a second letter to Babylon. A fragment of this letter, containing