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

Letters to the Exiles (29:1-32) 363

only a quotation from Shemaiah's letter and then ending abruptly, is

preserved in vv 25-28.

4) Zephaniah, the priest, then read Shemaiah's letter to Jeremiah, so that

he could hear it for himself, after which Jeremiah is commanded by

Yahweh to send another letter to Babylon cursing Shemaiah in a divine

oracle. This is Jeremiah's third letter, and it is not extant.

The abrupt ending of the Letter II fragment (v 28) results from Baruch (or

another compiler) wanting to make an inclusio with the beginning of the main

letter, which Letter II quotes (Lundbom 1975: 106-7 [= 1997: 139-40]). The

inclusio consists of this repetition:

Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

v 5

v 28

The repeated words emphasize the point Jeremiah wants to get across to the

exiles: "Settle down for what promises to be a long stay in Babylon."

NOTES

29:24. And concerning Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, you shall say. The LXX (also
S and Vg) omits le>mor, "saying," which may be due to haplography (ho-
moeoteleuton: >mr ... >mr). Theodotion has the word. Hebrew to>mar ("you
shall say") is singular, and some commentators (Giesebrecht; Bright; Holla-
day) take the directive, therefore, as a divine word to Jeremiah. But in my view,
this is Jeremiah's directive to someone on the receiving end of a second letter
that he has sent to the Babylonian exiles.
Shemaiah, the Nehelamite. "Nehelam" is probably a place-name (T: "who is
from Helem"; Jerome: de loco Neelami; Cornill; Rudolph), whose location is
unknown. The name and epithet are analogous to "Jeremiah, the Anathothite"
in v 27. Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, appears on Dead Sea Scroll fragment
4Q339, which lists false prophets that arose in Israel (see Note for 28:1). "She-
maiah" as a name appears elsewhere in 26:20 and 36: 12; also on various extra-
biblical finds (see Note for 26:20 and Appendix I).
2 5. Thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel (saying). The LXX omits, which
can be attributed to haplography (whole-word: Fmr ... Fmr). Theodotion, T,
and Vg have the words.
Because you, you sent letters in your name. I.e., not on Yahweh's behalf
(Giesebrecht). These letters may or may not have contained the (lying) oracles
Shemaiah is later judged to have uttered (v 31). The LXX reading, "I did not
send you in my name," is corrupt (BHS).
letters. Hebrew separfm. Letters were often-but not always-written on pa-
pyri, then rolled up and sealed. The LXX omits this term, but Theod (ta bib-
lia), T, and Vg have it. The LXX omission, along with two others in the verse,
are taken by many (Duhm; Cornill; Ehrlich 1912: 316; Rudolph; Weiser;