Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 407
verb predicates a mixed subject in 4QJerc. Emendation here to a feminine verb
is therefore unnecessary (pace Duhm; Holladay).
And I will multiply them, and they shall not decrease; I will give them honor,
and they shall not be insignificant. The verbs "multiply" (rbh) and "honor"
(kbd) appear to be a fixed pair, as Kselman ( 1979) has pointed out after discov-
ering the paired cognates rabU and kabtu in Akkadian poetry. The command to
multiply and not decrease is given in Jeremiah's letter to the exiles (29:6),
echoing the divine word at Creation (Gen 1:28) and recalling also Israel's ex-
perience as a slave people in Egypt, when its numbers increased from a few to
many (Exodus l; Deut 26:5). Now Yahweh promises that his remnant people
will multiply and be fruitful upon their return to Zion (cf. 3:16; 23:3; Hos 1:10;
Ezek 36:9-11; Isa 49:20-21; 54:1-3). The Hittite treaty cited above promised
expansion for the Hurrians if they kept the terms of their treaty. The verb $<r in
the second colon is rare, meaning the opposite of "come to honor" (Job 14: 21).
The LXX lacks this colon, "I will give them honor, and they shall not be insig-
nificant," which could, as Janzen ( 1973: 119) recognizes, be due to haplogra-
phy (homoeoarcton: w ... w, or homoeoteleuton: w ... w). The colon exists in
4QJd, Theod, T, and Vg.
- His sons shall be as of old. I.e., Jacob's sons shall be as in ancient times
(qedem; BDB, 869; GKC § l 18u). The reference here is not to David or the glo-
ries of the Davidic-Solomonic era (pace Calvin; Giesebrecht; Bright). The
"sons" are Jacob's sons (Rudolph), and the anticipation is to a time when all
the tribes of Israel ( = Jacob) will be accounted for (cf. 31:1; Ezekiel 48). The
LXX reads: "And their sons shall go in (eiseleusontai) as before," which may
imagine priestly sons going in to the holy place (b6' in Exod 28:29). But this
does not translate Heb hayu ("they shall be").
and his congregation before me established. Another syntactic chiasmus with
the prior colon, varying the normal parallelism of v l 9b. Jacob's "congrega-
tion" (<edo) is likely a worshiping congregation (1 Kgs 8:5), with "before me"
(lepanay) having the technical meaning of "(standing) before Yahweh" in
service and/or worship (see Note for 15:19). Dahood (1973: 83-84) citing a
Ugaritic parallel thinks that "sons" and "congregation" break up a stereotyped
phrase, strengthening the idea that the congregation is one in which all of
Jacob's sons are present. The LXX has ta marturia auton ("their testimonies").
Giesebrecht took this to be a misunderstanding, but it is now supported by
the 4QJ d reading, w<dwtw, "his testimony" (Tov 1997: 196-97; Becking
1994a: 156).
I will reckon with all who oppress him. The LXX omits "all," which can be at-
tributed to haplography (homoeoteleuton: l ... l). Janzen ( 1973: 65-67) says
the word is a common MT addition. On the verb pqd ("reckon, pay a visit, pun-
ish") in Jeremiah, see Note for 5:9. Earlier on, Yahweh promised a reckoning
for Judah; now he will reckon with Judah's oppressors (li5~Ci$ayw).
- and his noble one shall be one of his own. And his ruler from his midst shall
go forth. The future leader of the restored community is here called an 'adfr,
"noble one, prince, majestic one" ( 14: 3; 25: 34-36) and a mi5sel, "ruler" (22: 30;
