516 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
paradothesetai for the verb ("will surely be given over"? cf. 38:3). The readings
of Aq, Symm, T, and Vg support MT.
the Chaldeans and into the hand ofNebuchadrezzar. The LXX omits, but the
words arf'. translated in Theod, T, and Vg.
- And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come in and set
this city on fire and burn it. The verb ilba'il is a perfect with waw consecutive:
"and they shall come." The prediction that the Babylonians will burn Jeru-
salem has been made repeatedly (see Note for 34:2).
the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal, and poured out
drink offerings to other gods. This illicit worship was condemned in an or-
acle spoken by Jeremiah when he broke the decanter in the Ben-Hinnom
Valley (19:13) and is a theme recurring throughout the book (see Note for
1: 16). Remnants of incense burners were found on house roofs in Ashkelon
dating to Nebuchadrezzar's destruction of that city in 604 B.C. (see Note
for 19:13).
in order to provoke me to anger. Yahweh is "provoked to anger" (Fs H-stem)
by idols and the worship of other gods (see Notes for 7: 18-19). The point is
made again in v 32.
- Indeed, the children of Israel and the children of Judah have been doing
only what is evil in my eyes from their youth. Hyperbole. The expression "to do
what is evil in the eyes of Yahweh" is stock in Deuteronomy, Judges, and Kings
(Weinfeld l 972b: 3 39). The charge that the people have been disobedient
"from their youth" is found elsewhere in Jeremiah (3:24-25; 22:21) and in
Ezekiel (Ezck 20:5-26).
Indeed, lite children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of
their hands-oracle of Yahweh. The LXX omits, which can be attributed to hap-
lography (whole-word: ky ... ky). See also Migsch 1996: 359 n. 123. The words
are present in Aq, Symm, T, and Vg. On "the work of one's hands," meaning
idols, see Note for 25:6.
- Indeed, with respect to my anger and my wrath, this city has become to
me-from the day that they built it up until this day-in order to remove it from
my presence. Yahweh can cast the city away with a clear conscience because it
has accumulated so much evil. Calvin sees this as a parade example of divine
predestination, but what we may have is simply divine hyperbole. Reference,
in any case, is not to the founding of Jerusalem, which occurred long before
David made the city his own, but to building that occurred after Jerusalem be-
came a Judahite city. Rashi says that Jerusalem became a provocation to God
"from the day the Temple was built." Kiml}i's view is similar.
my anger and my wrath. On this expression in Jeremiah, see again v 37 and
Note for 21:5.
this city has become to me. The verb hayeta ("has become") intentionally
repeats hayil ("have been") from v 30, balancing the two statements of divine
hyperbole. The LXX lacks "to me."
in order to remove it from my presence. The prefixed lamed on lahasfrah
means "in order to." On this expression, see 2 Kgs 17:18, 23; 23:27; 24:3.
