418 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
must not be eaten at all; the fourth year, it is set aside as a praise offering to Yah-
weh; and in the fifth year, the planter is free to eat it. It stands to reason, then,
that one does not plant vineyards unless the chances are good that one will
reap some benefit from them. In wartime, vineyards are planted, and others eat
the fruit (5:17; Deut 20:6), which is one of the covenant curses (Deut 28:30; cf.
Amos 5: 11). But Jeremiah says here that the day will come when those who
plant vineyards will enjoy their fruit (cf. Amos 9:14; Isa 65:21-22). The LXX
omits "planters" and translates the verbs as imperatives: "Plant and praise!"
The second imperative mistakes hll, "to praise,'' for /:ill, "to profane" (cf. Isa
62:9). The T also reads nt'w as an imperative and takes nt'ym as a plural noun:
"Plant the plants, and eat them as common produce." Jerome in the Vg
strangely expands and converts the promise into its negative: plantabunt plan-
tantes, et donec tempus veniat non vindemiabunt ("they will plant plants, and
when the time comes they will not gather"). But, as Kedar-Kopfstein ( 1969: 56-
57) points out, Jerome changes his translation in the commentary to: plan-
tate plantaria et vindemiate ("plant plants and gather!"), which approximates
T Janzen (1973: 118) takes the omission of "planters" as being due to haplog-
raphy, which is possible in view of three successive consonants repeating in two
words. 4QJerc has "planters." Volz and Rudolph take the entire phrase as a
gloss from Deut 28:30 (cf. JB and NJB). The MT reading, supported by 4QJd,
should be retained.
- For there shall be a day when watchmen will call out on Mount Ephraim.
These "watchmen" (n6$erfm) are individuals stationed at high elevations, call-
ing the villagers to begin their pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Rashi; KimQ.i). Psalm
122: 1 says: "I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of Yahweh."
Watchmen ascend to elevated heights also to view the new moon, which sig-
nals the beginning of the festival (Cheyne; Duhm; cf. Ps 81:3-4[Eng 81:2-3]).
Even today in Jerusalem, the festivals of Judaism and Islam (e.g., Ramadan)
can begin only after the new moon has been sighted and announced. The LXX
has hoti estin hemera klesei5s apologoumeni5n en oresin Ephraim ("for it is a day
of those advocating a calling to the feast on the mountains of Ephraim").
Aquila and Symm read an imperative: kalesate phulakas en orei Ephraim ("call
watchings on the mountain of Ephraim!").
on Mount Ephraim. "Mount Ephraim" here is not a general term for the re-
gion of Ephraim (see Note for 4: 15) but a promontory on Ephraim's southern
mountains where the watchmen ascend. In 4: 15 a watchman announced the
approach of an enemy from here. In this verse, he bears happier tidings.
Up, let us go to Zion. Hebrew qumu wena'aleh $fyyon. This formulation is
similar to the negative "Up, let us attack at noon I at night" in 6:4-5. See also
49:38, 31. The language is elliptical: "let us go Zion" (people in the Upper
Peninusla of Michigan say "Let's go Green Bay"). Omission of the preposition
"to" is common in Jeremiah poetry and prose (see Note for 24:1). The LXX
reads the cohortative as another imperative: Anastete kai anabete eis Sion, "Up
and go to Zion!" Northern Israelites are called here to worship Yahweh at
Zion, supporting the view that this oracle endorses Josiah's program to unite
