Jeremiah and the Yoke Bars (27:1-22) 321
the lie. Hebrew lassaqer. The LXX has ep' adiko, "for wrong"; Aq: psuedos,
"a lie."
in order that I should disperse you, and you will perish. On the conjunction
lema'an, expressing ironic result, see v 10. The LXX omits the suffix on the in-
finitive haddfbf, "I should disperse," which has the false preaching of the
prophets causing the dispersion (cf. Vg). Also, at the end of the verse the LXX
adds ep adiko pseude ("for false wrong"), which has been variously explained as
an inner Greek doublet (Janzen 1973: 26, 64; Tov 1979: 88; McKane). But
none of the reconstructed readings inspires confidence, and the plus is best de-
leted, with Giesebrecht, as unoriginal.
- Then to the priests and to all this people I spoke. The focus now is on the
Temple treasures, which are of special concern to the priests. But priests and
people are also told to serve the king of Babylon and live. The LXX reverses
"priests" and "people" and adds an initial "to you" (hymin): "To you and to all
this people, and to all the priests I spoke." The added pronoun may belong to
the LXX plus at the end of v 15, which does not appear to be original. The LXX
reverses "priests" and "people" also in 28:5.
Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying,
'Look, the vessels of the house of Yahweh will be brought back from Babylon now
shortly.' Indeed a lie they are prophesying to you. Nebuchadnezzar looted the
Temple when he subjugated Jerusalem in 597 B.C. (2 Kgs 24:10-13), and
prophets are now saying that these treasures (presumably the ones not cut into
pieces) will be returned shortly. This is another lie. They will not be returned
shortly. There is no reason to argue, as some do, that any discussion of Temple
vessels' being returned from Babylon must emanate from the postexilic period,
when the cult was being reestablished (pace Volz; Rudolph; Ackroyd 1972:
175-77; Carroll; Holladay; McKane; cf. Ezra 1:7-11; 1 Esd 4:43-46, 57). Ac-
cording to the apocryphal book of Baruch, which is Hellenistic, these vessels
and others taken to Babylon in 586 B.C. were returned to Jerusalem by Baruch
soon after Jerusalem's destruction (Bar 1:8-9). But there is no evidence that
such a prophecy was fulfilled (C. A. Moore 1977: 271).
your prophets. The T again has "your prophets of falsehood"; LXX ton
propheton. A. R. Johnson (1962: 64) thinks that "your prophets" points to indi-
viduals enjoying official status in the Jerusalem cult, which is possible. One
may surely say that the possessive "your" is to denigrate the prophets, as well as
the people paying them heed.
now shortly. Hebrew 'atta mehera. The LXX omits, and commentators divide
over whether to retain or delete. Giesebrecht retains; Duhm deletes. Cheyne
suggests tht the omission could be linked to the LXX's other omission in v 22.
The T and Vg (nunc cito) have the words. What we have here is probably an-
other LXX loss due to haplography (homoeoteleuton: h ... h).
Indeed a lie they are prophesying to you. The LXX again has adika, "a wrong";
Aq has pseude, "a lie." The LXX also adds ouk apesteila autous, "I did not send
them" (cf. 15), which is not present in T and Vg, but could nevertheless be an
MT loss of lo' selabtfm due to haplography (homoeoteleuton: m ... m).
