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

III ... before...

Yes, it has become ...

and their might ...

Speaking of Prophets (23:9-40)

... mippene ...

wattehf ...

ugebUratam ...

The two oracles are also linked by repetitions:

Indeed ... kf ...

Indeed ... kf ...

.... evil. .. ra<a

Indeed ... kf ...

.... their evil ... ra<atam

II Indeed .... evil ... kf .... ra<a ...

181

v 10

v lOa

v lOb

v lOc

v lla

v l lb

v 12b

Rudolph identifies "evil" as a Stichwort in these verses, and McKane (p. 570)
correctly takes the three occurrences of kf in vv 10-11 as asseveratives, i.e., as
"indeed" or the like, but he does not render them as such in his translation.
The kf in v l 2b is also an asseverative.
Catchwords connecting to the following oracles (Condamin):

v l 0 adulterers

v 11 they are polluted

v 12 Therefore

mena>apfm

banepu

la ken

v 14 Committing adultery na> op

v 15 There{ ore laken

pollution banuppd

NOTES

23:9. To the prophets. Hebrew lannebi>fm. A superscription to the Prophet Col-
lection, similar to the superscription of an early King Collection in 22: 11 and
superscriptions to various Foreign Nation Collections (see Note for 21: 11).
Compare also the oracles directed against prophets in Mic 3:5-8 and Ezek
13:1-16. The AV in the present verse incorrectly reads the superscription as
part of the first colon: "Mine heart within me is broken because of the proph-
ets." A similar joining exists in T, but the Vg (Ad prophetas) correctly takes lan-
nebi>fm to be a superscription. The T also has "prophets of falsehood," as it
does throughout the chapter and elsewhere in the book (see Note for 2:8). The
reason T uses "prophets of falsehood" is that in Aramaic nby> carries the mean-
ing "true prophet of the Lord," necessitating a differentiation betweeen true
prophets and false prophets (Hayward l 985a: 21 O; cf. Churgin 1907: 118).
My heart is broken within me. Hebrew nisbar libbf beqirbf. The psalmist's
heart is broken because of insults (Ps 69:21 [Eng 69:20]), but here Jeremiah is
overcome by Yahweh's holy words (cf. 6: 11; 20:8-9). The language is not en-
tirely emotive (Bright says Jeremiah is not "heartbroken"), but just as certainly
it does not denote simply a state of mind. Jeremiah is comparing his condition
to drunkenness, when one is reduced to physical, mental, and emotional weak-
ness. Hillers ( 196 5) points out that a weakened condition can result from hear-
ing bad news (4:19-21; 8:18-21; see Note for 6:24).