Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 389On the structured prose in the first Book of Restoration, see Rhetoric and
Composition for 31 :23-26.
Oracle I is linked to the prior poem in vv 5-7 by these catchwords:v 8 in that day v 7 that dayOracles II and III are linked to their companion poem in vv 5-7 by these catch-
words:v 10 frighten mabarfd v5 fright barada
Jacob (2x) and no wi?'en
look I will save you v7 Jacob
and none w<Pen shall he be saved
v 11 to save youNOTES
30:8. And it will happen in that day. This formula introduced Judah's day of
judgment in 4:9, but here things are reversed. The future day will now see Yah-
weh breaking the yoke placed on Jacob by his enemies. The day of distress spo-
ken of in v 7 is past, and a remnant of Jacob has been saved. Anticipated also is
the salvation promised in vv 10-11.
Yahweh of hosts. The LXX omits "of hosts," as elsewhere (see Appendix VI).
I will break his yoke from upon your neck, and your straps I will tear away. A
syntactic chiasmus with the verbs at the extremes. The yoke and straps sym-
bolize servitude-in international law, a suzerain-vassal relationship between
nations (Becking 1989: 75-76). Earlier in Josiah's reign Judah was promised a
breaking of the Assyrian "yoke" and "straps" that kept her subservient, and this
did happen quite dramatically when Nineveh fell in 612 B.C. (Nah 1: 13; cf. Isa
10:27). More recently Judah was placed under the yoke of Nebuchadrezzar
and the Babylonians at Yahweh's command (27:2-15). But the promise now is
that this yoke too will be broken, not in a short while, as the dreamer-prophet
Hananiah predicted (28:2-4, 10-11), but in a day of Yahweh's own choosing.
The salvation envisioned here is grander: the yoke of "nations" (plural) will be
broken (T; Rashi). Kim]:ii says this is the yoke of Gog and Magog or the yoke of
every nation that exerted power over Israel in exile. But an eschatological in-
terpretation is not required. That day of salvation actually came, and when it
did it was remembered with songs of thanksgiving (Ps 107: 14).
his yoke ... your neck ... your straps. Straps (m6ser6t) made of leather were
to secure the yoke to the oxen (2:20; 5:5; 27:2). On the yoke and its symbolism
in the ancient world, see Note for 27:2. In the MT, Yahweh's initial words are
direct: "I will break his yoke (i.e., the yoke of Babylon) from upon your neck,
and your straps I will tear away." Compare Isa 10:27. Then in vv 8b-9 there is
a shift to the third person. The LXX is all third person. There the initial words
read: "I will break the yoke from upon their neck, and their fetters I will burst."
4QJerc supports MT, and so basically do all the Versions except the Vg, which