Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 457(Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; 48:2[Eng 48:1]). For Jerusalem as the future "holy moun-
tain," see also Zech 8:3. Further on in Jer 31:40, the valleys surrounding Jeru-
salem and the terraces on the city slopes are similarly envisioned as becoming
"holy for Yahweh."- And Judah and all its cities shall dwell in it together, the farmers and they
who set out with the fiock. "Judah and all its cities," here a metonymy for "the
people of Judah and all its cities" (Kim}:ii; cf. 4:29; 7:2; 11: 12; 26:2), as a phrase
is the subject of the verb "dwell" (Giesebrecht; pace LXX; NEB; REB). The
words need not be deleted as a gloss (pace Holladay; McKane; cf. Cornill).
These people will dwell again in the land of Judah, not in the "righteous
pasture" of Mount Zion (Heb bah, "in it," refers back to the feminine 'ere~,
"land"). Repeated and balancing words frame the blessing on Jerusalem:
... in the land I ofludah and its cities v 23
May Yahweh bless you ...
And they shall dwell in it I Judah and all its cities... v 24farmers. Hebrew 'ikkarfm, lit., "plowmen." These are tenant farmers who
work the land but do not own it ( 14:4; 51:2 3).
and they who set out with the fiock. I.e., the shepherds (51:23). Farmers and
shepherds will one day return to the land and live there together in harmony
(cf. Isa 30:23), reversing the legendary tension between the two groups in ANE
society (cf. the Cain and Abel story in Gen 4:1-16). The verb ns' means, lit.,
"to pull up stakes, set out" (4:7), here "to migrate." Giesebrecht says the awk-
ward wenase'u ba'eder can be taken with T as an abbreviated relative construc-
tion: "they (who) set out with the flock," or else the conjugated verb can be
emended to a participle construct (wenose'e) with Aq, Symm, S, and Vg (GKC
§ l 30a), giving a similar result. The pathab vowel under the beth is unusual.
Some MSS have ba'eder: ("with the flock"), which is a better reading.
- For I will saturate the thirsty soul, and every languishing soul I will fill.
The line is a syntactic chiasmus with verbs at the extremes. The verbs are also
prophetic perfects, anticipating action already completed. The kol ("all") in
the second colon does double duty for the first colon: "For I will saturate every
thirsty soul" (Ringgren 1982: 101). The imagery here is the same as in 31:12
and 14, where Yahweh in the restoration promises to more than satisfy the hun-
gry and thirsty with his goodness. Gruber ( 1987) suggests translating nepes as
"throat" ("For I shall fill up the parched throat, and every dry throat I shall re-
plenish"), which is possible for the first nepes but not the second, which re-
quires a more holistic interpretation-i.e., a whole being filled with food.
thirsty soul. Hebrew nepes 'ayepa.. The psalmist addresses Yahweh with the
words: "I have stretched out my hands to you, my soul as thirsty land (naps!
ke'ere~-'ayepfi.) to you" (Ps 143:6).
and every languishing soul. Hebrew wekol-nepes da'aba.. This could be an-
other abbreviated relative construction: "and every soul (that) languishes";
otherwise MT da'aba. ("it languishes" or Aramaic participle? cf. Giesebrecht)