366 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS- And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. On this superscription, see
Note for 28:12. - Send to all the exiles. The LXX and a few Heb MSS omit "all," a loss that
could be attributed to haplography (homoeoteleuton: l ... l). Aquila, Theod,
T, and Vg all have the word. Jeremiah is now being told by Yahweh to write yet
another letter to the exiles, the purpose of which is to convey an oracle of judg-
ment against Shemaiah.
because Shemaiah prophesied to you when I, I did not send him, and he has
made you trust in a lie-. Shemaiah is likely a prophet, since he has "prophe-
sied" (nibba>) to the exiles. Yet Pashhur, the priest, was also accused of false
prophecy (20:6). Further indication that Shemaiah was a prophet is the fact
that Dead Sea Scroll fragment 4Q3 39 includes him on its list of false prophets
(see Note for 28:1). This indictment of Shemaiah is the same as that brought
against Hananiah (28: 15). - Look I will reckon with Shemaiah, the Nehelamite. Another Jeremiah or-
acle beginning with hinenf, "Look I" (see 29: 17, 21, and Note for 1:15 ). On the
verb pqd ("reckon, pay a visit") in Jeremiah, see Note on 5:9. The LXX and T
omit "the Nehelamite," but the Vg has it.
There shall not be to him a man dwelling in the midst of this people. I.e., he
shall not have a descendant dwelling in the midst of this people. Shemaiah
is not given Hananiah's curse of death, but his line will be cut off ( extirpa-
tion), which makes one wonder if this individual, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
was not also a priest. The prophetic office was not progenitive, as were the
offices of king and priest. "To sit" (ysb) can mean "to govern" (J udg 4: 5;
1 Sam 1 :9), and "to sit in the midst of the people" can similarly mean to oc-
cupy a governing position among them (Gen 23:10; 2 Kgs 4:13; Rosenberg).
However, ysb bet8k elsewhere in the book, e.g., when referring to Jeremiah
following his release by Nebuchadnezzar, means simply "he dwelt amidst
the people" (39: 14; 40:6). Shemaiah's curse is best compared to the one
brought on Jehoiachin in 22:30. On the curse of no offspring, see also Deut
28:18. The LXX has "in the midst of you ... to see the good that I will do
for you."
and he shall not see the good that I will do for my people. I.e., the descen-
dant shall not see the future good. Reference is not to Shemaiah, who is not
likely to be around in 70 years. The LXX clarifies the ambiguity with, "There
shall not be a man of them in the midst of you to see the good that I will do
for you." This prophecy has distinct echoes of the prophecy given to Eli in
1 Sam2:31-32.
oracle of Yahweh-for he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh. The LXX
omits, but Theod, T, and Vg have the words. Assuming that ne>ilm yhwh was
in the LXX's Heb Vorlage, the remainder of the omission can be attributed to
haplography (whole-word: yhwh ... yhwh). But in 28: 16 the LXX omits the
same phrase, which may mean another explanation is required (Stipp 1997:
194). Speaking "rebellion" (sara) against Yahweh, in any case, is also the
charge leveled against Hananiah (28:16).