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

Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 375

7) 30:I2: "your blow (is) incurable"; 30:I4: "for the blow of an enemy I

have struck you"; 30: I 7: "and from your blows I will heal you." The

term "blow" (mkh) occurs very often in Jeremiah (6:7; 10:I9; I4:I7;

15:I8; I9:8; 49:I7; 50:I3).

8) 30: I 3: "There is none to diagnose your case" (lit., "there is none to

judge your judgment") is one of many cognate accusatives in Jeremiah

(see Note for 22:I6). In 30:14 another one appears: "For the blow/

stroke of an enemy I have struck you"; also "(when) I will restore the

fortunes" in 30:3 and throughout the Book of Restoration (see Note for

29:14).

9) 30:I6: "Those who plunder you shall be for plunder, and all who de-

spoil you I will give for spoil"; 31:4: "I will build you and you shall be

built"; and 3 l:l 8: "You disciplined me and I was disciplined .... Bring

me back so I may come back." Double-root repetitions are another sig-

nature of Jeremiah; see Note for I I: I 8.

IO) 30:13, I7: "healing" (rp)). The verb and cognate noun occur very often

in Jeremiah (3:22; 6:I4; 8:11, I5, 22; l4:I9; I5:I8; I7:I4; 19:II; 33:6;

46:11; 51:8-9). For language of sickness and healing in Hosea and Jere-

miah, see above.

I I) 3 I :4-5: "build ... plant" are very common Jeremiah words; see Note

for 1:10.

I 2) 31:4: "virgin Israel." See also I 8: l3 and 3 I :2 l. The term "virgin people"

occurs in I 4: 17, and "virgin daughter Egypt" in 46: I I.

13) 3 l: l3b: "joy ... make glad"; "joy and gladness" are a favorite Jeremiah

word pair; see Note for I5:I6.

I 4) 3 l:l 9: "I was ashamed and also disgraced." This verbal pair occurs also

in I 4: 3. The verb bOs ("to be shamed, ashamed") occurs very often in

Jeremiah.

While not all the words and ideas in these lists have the same value as evi-
dence, the discourse in chaps. 30-3 I does appear to betray influence from
Hosea, an influence discernible also in the early chapters of Jeremiah. Diction
in chaps. 30-3 I-in both poetry and prose-is also precisely what one finds
elsewhere in the book, strengthening the impression that the oracles and other
utterances in these chapters emanate from Jeremiah, not Second Isaiah or
some unknown prophet before, during, or after the Exile (pace Mowinckel
I 9I 4: 47; Fohrer I 98Ib; Carroll). The parallels between chaps. 30-3 I and Sec-
ond Isaiah have clearly been overdrawn. Many are vitiated or else reduced as
evidence by parallels existing within the book of Jeremiah itself. And when
these parallels are set over against parallels between Jeremiah and Hosea, the
most reasonable conclusion is that Second Isaiah drew inspiration from the
preaching of Jeremiah, not the reverse (Graf; Cassuto I 973b; S. Paul I 969).
Second Isaiah also appropriated words and concepts from First Isaiah, e.g.,
Yahweh as the "Holy One of Israel" (Muilenburg I 956a: 383, 400). The "Sec-
ond Isaiah" thesis for material in chaps. 30-31 should therefore be abandoned.