434 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
MT 31: 15 = LXX 38: 15. This brief poem is delimited at the top end by a "thus
said Yahweh" formula beginning v 15, before which comes a setumah in ML
and a petubah in MP and 4QJerc. At the bottom end delimitation is by a setu-
mah in ML and a petubah in MP after v 15. Upon reconstruction 4QJerc also
has a petubah after v 15 (Tov 1997: 199), while one MS in the Cambridge
Genizah Collection (AS 53.47) lacks a section here. In 4QJerc is another
petul;ah (reconstructed) midway in v 15 (after "bitterest of weeping"), the pur-
pose of which is unclear.
Many commentators and scholars take vv 15-22 as the literary unit (Duhm;
Peake; Streane; Volz; Hyatt; Bright; Thompson; Boadt; Trible 1977: 271; 1978:
46; B. W. Anderson 1978: 470; Keown et al.), some only vv 15-20 (Giesebrecht;
Condamin; Rudolph; Weiser; Carroll; Jones; McKane), which follows the
older view that these verses-particularly vv 15-20-are authentic to Jeremiah.
They also betray influence from Hosea in vocabulary ("Ephraim") and pathos
(weeping, repenting, and Yahweh wavering over whether to give Israel up),
and are said to represent preaching to Northern Israel early in the prophet's
career. Rachel (v 15), after all, is ancestress of the Northern tribes. Also, the
verses have no parallels to Second Isaiah. Trible (1977: 276; 1978: 46) and
B. W. Anderson (1978: 475) argue for the unity of vv 15-22 on the basis of a re-
peated tamrumfm in vv 15 and 21, the former meaning "bitter," the latter
meaning "signposts." However, v 15 is self-standing and in the larger poetic
core is paired with the hope oracles in vv 16-17 (see Rhetoric and Composi-
tion for 30:4-7). Inv 15 Rachel makes her lament; in vv 16-17 Yahweh answers
the lament with hope for the future.
Although I am not inclined to isolate vv 15-22-or vv 15-20-as a literary
unit, it is nevertheless the case that here at the end of the poetic core is a no-
ticeable shift in theme and mood. Setting aside for a moment the hope pas-
sages interspersed throughout the collection, we have, as a replacement for the
beginning judgment (30:5-7, 12-15), weeping, repentance, and confession at
the end (31: 15, 18-19). Similar shifts occur in the two cycles of poetry appear-
ing early in the book: 1) the cycle in 2:1-4:4 begins with indictment and
judgment for apostasy (2:4-9, 10-13) and ends with calls for "returning/repen-
tance" (3:1-5, 12-14, 19-20, 21-25; 4:1-2); and 2) the cycle in 4:5-9:25[26]-
later 10:25-begins with judgment at the hands of the foe from the north ( 4: 5-
8, 13-17) and ends with confession and lamentation (8: 18-21; 8:22-9: 1 [2];
9:9-10[ 10-11 ], 16-18[ 17-19], 19-21 [20-22]; 10: 19-21, 23-24). These shifts
are doubtless intentional in the book's composition and have as a theological
correlative the belief that in the end judgment must issue in confession and
repentance.
Lindblom (1965: 142-43) calls the poem here a "literary vision'' in which
sound dominates; others of the same type occur in 4:13; 6:22-26; and 46:3-12.
Rachel is not the speaking voice; it is another who hears her weeping. Judging
from the messenger formula, the speaker would appear to be Yahweh (Calvin;