494 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSwere inscribed on a gold plate worn on the priest's forehead (Exod 28:36;
39:30), indicating that his person was sacred. The expression is then a priestly
one, which makes one wonder if Jeremiah, now that Jerusalem's destruction
and his battles with the priesthood are things of the past, may not be appro-
priating a term familiar from his priestly upbringing (cf. 1:1 ). From the usage
here comes Jerusalem's later designation as "the Holy City" (Isa 48:2; 52:1), a
designation that is also used for the New Jerusalem in Rev 21:2, 10. Silver
shekels minted by Titus in the last years before Jerusalem's destruction (A.D.
67-70) bore the inscription "Jerusalem, the Holy" (EncJud 9: 1399). The
name that the Arabs today use for Jerusalem is al-Quds ("the Holy").
It shall not be uprooted, and it shall not again be overthrown-forever. I.e.,
Jerusalem shall not be uprooted or overthrown (v 38). On the familiar Jere-
mianic verbs "uprooted" and "overthrown," see earlier v 28 and Note for 1: 10.
This prophecy has not been fulfilled-at least not in a literal sense. The city,
although it was rebuilt by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1-6) and achieved an even
greater splendor from Herod the Great (37-4 B.c.), experienced subsequent
indignities, including complete destruction at the hands of Titus and the
Romans in A.D. 70, after which it lay in ruins for over 60 years. Despite other
attacks since, the city nevertheless remains. In Revelation's New Jerusalem,
the servants of God are promised a reign with God and the Lamb forever
(Rev 22:3-5).
MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
In this oracle a dispirited Judahite audience is told that in days to come the city
of Jerusalem will be rebuilt for Yahweh. The measuring line will go out from
the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate, and from there it will turn south and
go straight over Gareb Hill, turn again, and follow the southern boundary to
Goah. All the valley land surrounding the city, defiled by corpses and sacrifi-
cial ashes, and all the ruined terraces on the city slopes up to the Brook Kidron,
up to the Horse Gate on the east, shall be made holy for Yahweh. The city
will not be uprooted or again be overthrown -forever. But will it really be in-
violable for all time?
This oracle addresses a remnant Judahite audience-in Judah and in ex-
ile-after the fall of Jerusalem. The first Book of Restoration (chaps. 30-31),
which it concludes, is best dated during Jeremiah's Mizpah sojourn (586-582
B.c.). Its message to remnant Israel and Judah is that exiles will return to Zion,
and their future in the city and in the land will have both continuity and dis-
continuity with the past. This final oracle returns the audience to the oracle in
31 :23-26, which promises a reconsecration of Jerusalem's holy hill. The oracle
also provides a transition into chap. 32 and its symbolic prophecy on Israel's
repossession of the land.