Letters to the Exiles (29:1-32) 351
from Jerusalem to Babylon. The LXX omits "to Babylon" (babela), which
can again be loss due to haplography (homoeoarcton: b ... b). The term is
present in GL, S, T, and Vg and should be retained (Giesebrecht; Volz; Ru-
dolph; Weiser).
- Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. On
the verbs "build" (bem1) and "plant" (nif'u), which are thematic in the book
of Jeremiah (1:10), see Note for 24:6. The exiles have a measure of freedom;
they are not prisoners of war (Hyatt). Jeremiah's word to them is "Settle in for
a time; you will not be returning home in the near future." Second Isaiah
promises the building of houses and planting of gardens on the exiles' return
(Isa 65:21).
- Take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take for your sons wives, and
your daughters give to husbands. More indication that the return home will not
be soon. Some of the exiles may be refusing to marry and have children, which
goes with unsettled times. Jeremiah himself was denied marriage and a family
because of the impending distress in Judah (16:1-4; cf. Mark 13:17-19; Luke
23:28-31; l Cor 7:25-26). The latter part of the present sentence is a syntactic
chiasmus: "and take for your sons I wives II and your daughters I give to hus-
bands" (Kilpp 1990: 47). On the imperatives qab and qebu ("Take!") in divine
commands issued to the prophet, see Note for 43:9.
and let them bear sons and daughters. The LXX omits, which can be attrib-
uted to haplography (homoeoarcton: w ... w). Janzen (1973: 103-4) suggests
the possibility of inner Greek haplography. The words are present in S, T, and
Vg and should be retained (Volz; Rudolph; Weiser; Bright).
Yes, multiply there, and do not decrease. Hebrew urebU-sam we'al-tim'atil. An
echo of the Egyptian sojourn, where, in a foreign land and under less than
ideal conditions, Israel's numbers did in fact increase (Exodus l; Deut 26:5).
These words reaffirm God's command in Gen 1:28: "Be fruitful and multiply
(urebU)." Yahweh promises that the covenant people will multiply and be fruit-
ful once they return to Zion (3:16; 23:3; 30:19).
- And seek the welfare of the city where I have exiled you, and pray on its be-
half to Yahweh. "To seek" (drS) in the OT often means "to pray" (10:21; Deut
4:29; Isa 55:6), which is indicated here in the verb following (pll Hithpael).
In Deut 23:7(Eng 23:6] the covenant people are told not to seek the welfare
(lo'-tidros selomam) of the Ammonites and Moabites-for all time. The refer-
ence here more likely urges good conduct (Calvin). To seek the welfare
(salom) of one's city would certainly mean not to engage in revolt. The point
has been restated in the modern day by Villafane (1992: 374), who says that
seeking the welfare of large urban areas such as New York City requires "criti-
cal engagement," not assimilation, revolution, or escapism.
the city. This is not necessarily Babylon or Uruk, but whatever city or town in
which the exiles happen to be. Settlement was not all in one place (compare
the situation Egypt in 44: l ). From the Bible and also the Bit MurasO archive,
we know that some exiled Jews were settled in the vicinity of Nippur. The river
Chebar of Ezek 3: 15 is the Kabaru Canal running through the city of Nippur
