286 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
influence. The accession-year system would then have been in use at the
present time, which means that the period from Jehoiakim's ascent to the
throne in September 609, until April 608, would have been his "accession
year." The king's first regnal year would have begun in April 608, which was
New Year according to the Nisan calendar in use in Judah at the time (Tad-
mor 1956: 229; Bright). Begrich (1929: 91, 93) argued that in all four Jere-
miah texts, which are the only ones of their kind in the OT, "beginning of the
reign" meant "accession year," and a number of scholars have concurred with
this judgment (Rudolph; Weiser; Hyatt 1966: 205-6; Bright; Sarna 1978: 91;
Holladay). Nevertheless, according to Tadmor and Cogan, the term appears
to have only general meaning in the Jeremiah superscriptions, especially in
28:1 (though this date has problems), which means that the event reported
here in chap. 26 could have occurred in Jehoiakim's accession year but need
not have. On ancient Israelite chronology, see further H. Tadmor, EncMiqr
4: 245-310 [Hebrew); idem, "The Chronology of the First Temple Period"
in WHJP 4/1: 44-60. For months of the Jewish calendar, see Appendix IX.
Since the following verse tells us that pilgrims from outlying cities were ex-
pected in Jerusalem when Jeremiah was instructed to speak at the Temple, it is
likely that the occasion was one of some importance. One of the annual festi-
vals has been suggested (Exod 23:14-17; Deut 16:1-13), perhaps the Feast of
Booths, which took place in the fall (Blayney; Rudolph; Weiser; Holladay).
Others have suggested a New Year coronation for Jehoiakim (Duhm; Volz;
Morgenstern 1929: 20-22), although Peake says this would have been an inap-
propriate time for such preaching. Quite obviously, any time would have been
inappropriate, judging from what transpired after these riveting oracles were
spoken.
reign. Hebrew mamlekut. This spelling occurs in Hos l :4 and a few other
places in the OT; the spelling in Jeremiah is otherwise mamleket (27:1; 28:1).
this word came from Yahweh. The S and OL add "to Jeremiah" after "this
word" (cf. 27:1; 34: l; 36: l; and 49:34), which is not present in MT or any other
ancient Version. But the shorter reading could be original (cf. Peake), since
there is no reason why this formulation must precisely match the others.
- Thus said Yahweh: Stand in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and you
shall speak concerning all the cities ofludah who come to worship in the house of
Yahweh all the words that I command you to speak to them. The Temple court-
yard (l;ia$er) was the usual place for Jeremiah to speak his oracles (19:14). In
7:2, Jeremiah was told to stand at the gate of Yahweh's house, which may have
been a gate to the inner courtyard, thought by some to have been the Eastern
Gate (Kiml;i; Morgenstern 1929: 21-22; see Note for 7:2). On the term l;ia$er
("enclosure, court"), which occurs 15 times in Jeremiah and often in the
phrase "court of the guard" (37:21; 38:13, 28; 39:14; et passim), see Orlinsky
- The "court of the guard" was in the royal palace (32:2).
all the cities ofludah. A metonymy for "all the people of the cities of Judah"
(Blayney). The wording in 7:2 is "all Judah," and in 31:24 "Judah and all its cit-
ies." The LXX in the present verse has "the Judahites" (tois Ioudaiois). This
