312 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
of Tyre and Sidon are listed as imprisoned vassals in a "court list" of Nebuchad-
nezzar II (ANET^3 308), which dates to 570 B.C., according to Wiseman ( 1985:
73-75), but according to Elat ( 1991: 29-30) is earlier. Jeremiah lists both kings
as having to drink Yahweh's cup of wrath (25:22). Tyre and Sidon do not re-
ceive separate oracles but are promised isolation from their southern allies in
an oracle against the Philistines ( 47 :4 ).
by the hand of messengers who are coming to Jerusalem. On maf>akfm ("mes-
sengers") without the article, see GKC § l 26w. The LXX has "their messen-
gers," expanding also its reading to "who are coming to meet them (eis
apantesin auton) in Jerusalem." If the LXX's Vorlage read liqra>tam (Hitzig;
BHS), we could have an MT loss due to haplography (homoeoteleuton: m
... m). Tov ( 1979: 82) leans in favor of the short reading of MT, taking the LXX
reading as secondary. Hitzig said earlier that LXX's apantesatosan ("let them
meet") in v 18 is not correct. On the messenger and his role in ANE society, see
S. Meier (1988); also discussion in Notes for 2:2 and 23:18.
who are coming to Jerusalem. Hebrew habba>fm yerilsalayim. For the omis-
sion of "to" before "Jerusalem," see Note for 24:2. The participle habba>fm I
have translated as present tense, viewing the arrival of the messengers as immi-
nent. The rendering of AV ("which come") is not time specific; the more re-
cent Versions translate a past perfect: "who have come." It could be that the
messengers have already arrived, but if Jeremiah is to have sufficient time to
make the yokes before meeting them, Yahweh's word may have to precede
their arrival. In 32:7, which concerns Jeremiah's field purchase and is another
symbolic action, the perfect ba>, "(he) is coming," indicates future time.
- And you shall command them to their masters. The verb ?Wh ("command")
is forceful in the mouth of Jeremiah, but Jeremiah on other occasions issues
commands (see Note for 36:5).
Yahweh of hosts. The LXX omits "of hosts," as elsewhere; see Appendix VI.
Aquila and Theod have ton dunameon.
- I, I made the earth, human and beast that are on the face of the earth, with
my great strength and with my outstretched arm, and I give it to whoever seems
right in my eyes. A grand statement of Yahweh as God of all creation, beginning
with an emphatic "I." It is widely asserted that creation theology developed late
in ancient Israel, the focus earlier being on Yahweh's redemption of Israel from
Egyptian slavery. Von Rad ( 1962: 138) cites the present passage along with Isa
45: 12-13 as expressing comparatively late ideas, seeing in them both Yahweh's
power over history as deriving from his authority as Creator. It has also been
usual to say that Jeremiah here anticipates the creation faith of Second Isaiah,
yet there are differences as well as similarities between the two. For example,
Yahweh's creation of earth and humans Cadam) is mentioned only once in Isa
45: 12, and his creation of the beasts (behema) is nowhere stated. The combina-
tion "human and beast," cited with reference to their lamented absence in the
land and their joyful reappearance at a later time, is Jeremiah language (7:20;
21:6; 31:27; 32:43; 33:10, 12; 36:29; 50:3). Creation theology is well docu-
mented in Jeremiah (Saggs 1978: 42-43; H. Weippert 1981; Lang 1983), even
