Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8) 117city, and what is said in 21: 10 about the king of Babylon's destroying the city by
fire.
Volz dates Oracle I early in Jehoiakim's reign, i.e., 609-606 B.C. Oracles II
and III are dated by him sometime prior to 588 B.C. when rebellion against
Nebuchadnezzar was still possible. Holladay assigns all three oracles to
Jehoiakim's reign: Oracle I to ca. 609-608; Oracle II to an unspecified date in
Jehoiakim's reign; and Oracle III to a date before the siege of 598 B.C. In my
view, all three oracles should probably be dated early in Jehoiakim's reign, i.e.,
609-605 B.C., when Jeremiah was still speaking openly in public and trying to
right the wrongs of a king wholly unsuited for office. Oracle III, which prom-
ises judgment, was not fulfilled in the Babylonian siege of 598 B.C. but, rather,
when Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C. Volz suggested that Oracle I was recited before
a large audience on festal days when people were assembled in Jerusalem. Pos-
sibly all three oracles were recited on such an occasion.3. Once Again, 0 King: Do Justice and Righteousness! (22: 1-5)
22 1 Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and you
shall speak there this word.^2 And you shall say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, king
of Judah, who sits on the throne of David-you, and your servants, and your
people who come through these gates.'(^3) Thus said Yahweh:
Do justice and righteousness, and rescue the robbed from the oppressor's
hand; and the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow do not wrong, do not
treat violently; and the blood of the innocent do not shed in this place.
(^4) For if you really do this word, then through the gates of this house shall
come kings sitting for David on his throne, riding in chariots and with
horses-he, and his servants: and his people.
(^5) But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself-oracle of Yah-
weh-that this house will come to be a ruin.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
These verses contain a directive from Yahweh that Jeremiah speak a word to
the king at the gates of the royal palace (vv 1-2), after which come two oracles
presumably delivered there (vv 3-5). The unit is prose, delimited on either side
by poetry. The upper limit is marked additionally by a setumah in ML (only)
prior to v 1, where the chapter division also comes. The lower limit is marked
by a petu~ah in MA and 4QJer^0 and by a setumah in ML and MP after v 5.
4QJer• has no section after v 5. The ML and MP also have a setumah after v 2,
'Reading the Q, which is supported by T and 4QJer°; Kt has "his servant" (singular).