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

Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8)

Arpa d' or dei fatidici vati

Perche muta dal salice pendi?

Le memorie nel petto raccendi

Ci favella de! tempo che fu!

0 simile di Solima ai fati

Traggi un suono di crudo lamento

0 t'ispiri ii Signore un concento

Che ne infoda al patire virtu!

Golden harps of the Prophets Oh tell me

Why so silent ye hang from the willow?

Once again sing the songs of our homeland

Sing again of the days that are past

We have drunk from the cup of affliction

And have shed bitter tears of repentance

Oh, inspire us Lord Yahweh" with courage

So that we may endure to the last

159

Va, pensiero, sull' alli dorate

Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli

Ove olenzzano tepide e molli

L 'aure dolci de! suolo natal!

Speed your journey, my thoughts and my longings

Speed your journey to mountain and valley

Where the sweet-scented air breathes a fragrance

O'er the homes that we knew long ago!

(Libretto by Temistocle Solera; tr. Norman Tucker and Tom

Hammond; London: G. Ricardi, 1962)

10. Is Coniah a Throwaway Pot? (22:28-30)

22 28 Is an unwanted, smashed pot

this man Coniah?

or a jar in which no one takes delight?

So why are he and his offspring thrown

and cast away to a land that they do not know?

(^29) Land, Land, Land
Hear the word of Yahweh!
(^30) Thus said Yahweh:
Write this man down childless
a man who will not prosper in his days
Indeed there shall not prosper from his offspring
a man to sit upon the throne of David
and rule again in Judah.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
These verses contain an oracle lamenting Jehoiachin's recent departure into
exile. The limits are indicated by a return to poetry in v 28, then a shift back to
prose in 23: 1, which is the chapter division. This oracle has its "Thus said Yah-
weh" formula in the center, at v 30, but it may have been added later (see
Notes). The upper limit is confirmed by a setumah in ML and a petu~ah in MA
and MP before v 28. 4QJerc has no section there. The lower limit is confirmed
by a petu~ah in MA and a setumah in MP after v 30, where ML has no section.
a The translated version has "Jehovah."