Indictment of Judah and the Nations (25:1-38) 267sions translate, but the conjunction "that." Nations can be counted on to
refuse the cup.
then you shall say to them. The LXX omits "to them," but it is present in T,
S, and Vg.
You shall certainly drink! The command was that Jeremiah make them
drink (v 15).- For look, ifI am beginning to work evil in the city upon which my name is
called, then for you, shall you assuredly go unpunished? An argument a minori
ad maius; on which see Note for 3:1. A similar but not identical argument ap-
pears in 49:12. It is Yahweh's intention to begin the judgment with Jerusalem
and the cities of Judah, which then becomes a reason for subsequent judgment
on the nations. Here Yahweh is enraged at the nations for thinking that they
will be declared innocent. The LXX lacks hinneh ("look"), which is the most
common beginning to the Jeremianic oracle (see Note for 1:9). The T and Vg
have the term. The LXX misunderstood the argument, translating two state-
ments instead of two questions (Giesebrecht). The translator could have been
confused by the absence of an interrogative particle, which is nevertheless pos-
sible in questions (cf. Note for 3: 1 and GKC S l 50a). The expression "the city
upon which my name is called" occurs later in Dan 9: 18 and is not otherwise
found in the book of Jeremiah. The Jeremiah expression is "the house upon
which my name is called," i.e., the Temple (7:10, 11, 14, 30; 32:34; 34:15).
You shall not go unpunished. Hebrew lo) tinnaqu. The LXX, in converting
two questions into two statements, fails to account for these words. Their omis-
sion may then be an earlier loss due to haplography (whole-word: tnqw ...
tnqw). The (preceding) question form is not a secondary development in
proto-MT (pace Stipp 1997: 197-98) but standard Hebrew discourse. See again
49: 12. When the two oracles are heard together, the present statement be-
comes Yahweh's answer to his own rhetorical question, which in the classical
rhetorical handbooks is called hypophora (see Note for 49:7).
oracle of Yahweh of hosts. The LXX omits; T and Vg have the formula.
MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
Jeremiah here reports a vision in which he saw Yahweh hosting a banquet for
the nations, and where he was appointed the server of wine. Yahweh told him
to take the cup from his hand, a cup filled with the divine wrath, and make the
nations round the table drink it. All would become thoroughly drunk, retch,
and go mad, after which they would fall victim to a sword Yahweh is sending
upon them.
Jeremiah says he took the cup and made the nations drink. First to receive
the wine of wrath was Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which were brought
to ruin. Next to drink was Pharaoh of Egypt and with him high-ranking
Egyptian officials, then all the people in Egypt-natives, foreigners, and folk
of mixed race. To the kings of Uz the cup was passed next, and after them to
all the kings of the Philistines-Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of