III. The Book of Restoration (30:1-33:26)
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A. Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40)
1. Superscription and Introductory Oracle (30:1-3)
30 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh:^2 Thus said Yahweh,
God of Israel: 'Write for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you
into a scroll.'(^3) For look, days are coming-oracle of Yahweh-when I will restore the
fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, said Yahweh, and I will bring
them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
MT 30:1-3 = LXX 37:1-3. The present verses serve as an introduction to the
"Book of Restoration," otherwise known as Jeremiah's "(Little) Book of Com-
fort" or "Book of Consolation." Originally a collection of largely hopeful
prophecies comprising chaps. 30-31, this book was later expanded to include
chaps. 32-33 in the larger Jeremiah book. The collection was once contained
on a separate scroll (30:2); now it is a "book within a book."
The Book of Restoration is built around a core of judgment and hope poems
(30: 5-31 :22), paired in such a way that judgment is answered by hope, and la-
ment by divine promise (see Rhetoric and Composition for 30:4-7). Volz saw
a dramatic presentation in this alternation, echoing an earlier remark by Erbt
(1902: 291) that 31:18-20 was a liturgy comparable in style to liturgies in
chaps. 3 and 14. Erbt saw in 31:18-20 a vision of Jeremiah (v 18), a lament by
Ephraim (v 19), and an answer from Yahweh (v 20). A dramatic quality in the
core poetry has been recognized more recently by Krafovec ( 1984: 90-91 ), who
sees here an antithetical movement from judgment to salvation. The core po-
etry then contains also judgment and lament, but each poem is answered by a
divine word of salvation or promise. In the added material of 31:23-40, in
which the new covenant is the crowning promise, and in the even later supple-
mentary material of chaps. 32-3 3, everything is future hope and salvation. The
Book of Restoration preserves the bulk of Jeremiah's hopeful preaching, the
dominant themes being: 1) a restoration of Israel and Judah's fortunes; 2) a re-
turn of Israelite and Judahite exiles from their captivities in the north; and