the prophet: Do listen, Hananiah. The LXX omits, which may be due to
haplography even though the LXX-except for v 1, where it has pseudoproph-
etes-otherwise omits "the prophet" as a title in the chapter (whole-word:
hnnyh ... hnnyh ). Giesebrecht suggests haplography, noting that the words are
present in GL, S, T, and Vg. If "the prophet" was at one time present in the He-
brew Vorlage to the LXX, the term could be original and not MT expansion, as
many assume.
Yahweh has not sent you. The defining judgment on Hananiah; see v 9, and
Note for 23:32.
and you, you have made this people trust in a lie. The LXX has ep' adiko, "in
a wrong"; Aq and Symm epi pseudei, "in a lie" (cf. 27:16). The expression "trust
in (the words of) a lie I the Lie" appears frequently in Jeremianic prose (7:4, 8;
13:25; 28: 15; and 29:31; Holladay 1960: 356). People are supposed to put their
trust in Yahweh (17:7; 39:18), and prophets speaking the truth make this hap-
pen. From the charge here Hananiah becomes designated a false prophet in
the LXX and T What makes him false is a false message (Overholt 1970: 45, 75,
85; Childs 1985: 139). In Hebrew thought, authenticity or its lack does not
reside within a person's being, even though it is true enough that prophets
consistently prove to be genuine or ingenuine. But we must not think of proph-
ets as having a "good essence" making them true, or a "bad essence" making
them false. If that were the case, then true prophets would always be true and
false prophets always false. The prophet proves true by authentic speech and
authentic action and false by inauthentic speech and inauthentic action. Each
word and deed comes from a specific inspiration or lack of the same, which we
judge to be true or false (A. B. Davidson 1895: 1).
Look I will send you away. Hebrew hinenf me8allebaka. The Piel of slb is
forceful: "send away." A wordplay is made with "Yahweh has not sent you (lo'-
selabaka)" in v 15 (Hitzig). Yahweh has not sent Hananiah to prophesy, but
now is sending him-off the earth. Hananiah will die. Compare similar word-
plays on qr' drwr, "proclaim liberty," in 34: 17; on m's, "reject," in 1 Sam 15:23;
and on yrd, "come down," in 2 Kgs 1:9-10, 11-12 (Lundbom 1973: 46).
the face of the earth. Hebrew pene ha'adama. See 25:26; 35:7; and 1 Kgs
13:34. The phrase can also translate as "the (surface of the) ground" (8:2; 16:4;
25:33; Gen 2:6; 4:14).
This year you will die, for you have spoken rebellion concerning Yahweh. Jere-
miah too is capable of time-specific prophecy. The T reads: "This year you
shall die, and in another year you shall be buried," but KimQ.i says the plain
meaning is that Hananiah will die within a year of the prophecy, and indeed
he did die, in the seventh month. This sentence of death falls under the provi-
sions stated in Deut 18:20, although because it speaks of "rebellion" (sara)
against Yahweh, it might also fall under the provisions of Deut l 3:6[Eng 13:5].
However, this latter passage does not apply to false prophecy in Yahweh's name
but to false prophecy in the name of other gods. Shemaiah, a prophet in Baby-
lon, is given similar judgment for preaching "rebellion" against Yahweh
(29:32). The words "for you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh" are lacking
