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

328 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS

c

D

E

F

Oracle III (Hananiah) Even so will I break the yoke of

Nebuchadnezzar, king of

Babylon, within two years' time

from upon the neck of all nations

Narrator concludes: "And Jeremiah the prophet went his way"

Narrator reports that the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah at

a later time; directive given to go and speak to Hananiah

Oracle IV (Jeremiah) Yoke bars of wood you have broken,

but you have made in their place

yoke bars of iron

Oracle V (Jeremiah) A yoke of iron I have put upon the

neck of all nations; they and the

beasts will serve Nebuchadnezzar

Narrator reports Jeremiah's discreditation of Hananiah:

"Yahweh has not sent you, and you, you have made this

people trust in a lie"

Oracle VI (Jeremiah) I will send you away from off the face

of the earth; this year you will die

Narrator reports that Hananiah died two months later, in that

year

(v 11 b)

(v llc)

(vv 12-13a)

(v 13b)

(v 14)

(v 15)

(v 16)

(v 17)

Hananiah's first two oracles are tied together by an inclusio, noted by Weiser

as a repetition at the beginning and end of his speech. The inclusio inverts its

key phrases, as noted by Keown et al.:

I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two

years' time I will bring back to this place ...

II ... I will bring back to this place ... for I will break the yoke

of the king of Babylon

VY 2-3

v4

In Oracle III, Hananiah repeats with slight change the substance and wording

of Oracle I:

III ... will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,

within two years' time ... v l lb

It has been widely noted that Hananiah uses the same messenger formula,

some of the same language ("so will I break"), and the very same symbolic ac-

tion used by Jeremiah. Now we see that the prophet from Gibeon employs the

same rhetoric that Jeremiah employs.

Jeremiah's defense has an inclusio made up of cognate terms, which is noted

but in a different manner by Lys ( 1979: 467-68):

Amen! ...

... truly

'amen

be'emet

v6

v9

Jeremiah's speech when he was on trial also contained an inclusio (see
26:12b-15).