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

484 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS

about "nationalism" in the passage, whether or not it discredits Jeremiah, is the

weakest of all. The passage is not about nationalism but about the status of Yah-

weh's covenant with Israel, which is on another level entirely. Many, therefore,

have discounted the arguments for anonymity and a late date and attributed

the verses to Jeremiah (Volz; Rudolph; Weiser; Boadt) or at least see no reason

why the verses cannot be attributed to the prophet (Streane; Bright; Thomp-

son; Jones).

The unusual combining of a "thus said Yahweh" oracle formula with a con-

fessional "Yahweh of hosts is his name" in v 35 can be explained as resulting

from the entire verse being an expanded oracle formula, of which there are any

number in the book of Jeremiah (11:21; 12:14; 14:15; 22:11; 23:2; 27:19-21;

29:16, 21, 31; 32:36; 42:9). But this one is different; the only other one like it

occurs in 33:2, which reads:

Thus said Yahweh who made it

Yahweh who formed it to establish it

Yahweh is his name!

Both formulas may be hymnic fragments (Weiser), where the repeated divine
name makes an inclusio.
The two oracles then have double formulas, such as we have in the prior or-
acles of vv 31-34:

Thus said Yahweh ... Yahweh of hosts is his name:

... oracle of Yahweh ...

v 35

v 36

II Thus said Yahweh: v 37

... oracle of Yahweh

The LXX omits "thus said Yahweh" in v 37 but adds an "oracle of Yahweh"
after the first colon in the verse, thus retaining a double formula. The LXX re-
ordering, where v 37 is placed before vv 35-36, matters little since both oracles
are kept intact, simply put in reverse order. Becking ( l 994a: 165-67) sees in the
LXX ordering a concentric symmetry whereby the hymnic fragment is placed
in the center, but he agrees that one cannot decide here which text is more
authentic.
The two oracles are bound together by an array of repetitions and balancing
keywords (cf. Lundbom 1975: 58-59 [= 1997: 79-80]):

............. forlight by day ... liP6ry6milm v 35

statutes ................ buqqot

for light by night liPor layela

If these statutes ........... >im ... habuqqfm ha>elleh v 36

from before me......... ..... millepanay ...