Jeremiah 21-36 A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

464 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS

Thy fathers' sins, 0 Roman, thou,

though guiltless, shalt expiate, till thou

dost restore the crumbling temples

and shrines of the gods and their

statues soiled with grimy smoke.

(Loeb)

c) The New Covenant (31:31-34)

31 3 lLook, days are coming-oracle of Yahweh-when I will cut with the

house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant,^32 not like the

covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to

bring them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they, they broke,

though I, I was their master-oracle of Yahweh.

(^33) But this is the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel after those
days-oracle of Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and upon
their hearts I will write it. And I will be God to them, and they, they will be
a people to me.^34 And they shall not again instruct each person his fellow
and each person his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for they, all of them,
shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them-oracle of
Yahweh-for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will not remember
agam.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
MT 31:31-34 = LXX 38:31-34. The present verses, which give Yahweh's
promise of a new covenant to Israel and Judah, are delimited at the top end by
a setumah in ML and a petu~ah in MP before v 31. a Delimitation at the bottom
end is by a setumah in ML and a petu~ah in MP after v 34. There are four "or-
acle of Yahweh" formulas here, although the LXX with its lack of a formula in
v 34 has only three. Since vv 31-32 cannot be divided we must have two oracles
with double formulas, which does occasionally happen (e.g., 2:2-3, 5-9;
30: 18-21; 31:3 5-37). Oracle I states whatthe new covenant will not be (vv 31-
32), and Oracle II states what it will be (vv 33-34). With this division a nice
syntactical variation also shows up in the two beginnings:
TT
Look, days are coming I oracle of Yahweh I when I will cut ... a new
covenant
... oracle of Yahweh
But this is the covenant that I will cut ... I after those days I oracle of
Yahweh:
... oracle of Yahweh ...
"In MP omitted words are written into the open section in small letters.
v 31
v 32
v 33
v 34