546 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSthe descendants of David and Levi in future days will be such that no one will
be able to number them.
Oracle II is introduced by Yahweh asking Jeremiah if he has heard what
people are now saying in light of Judah's national catastrophe? No doubt he
has. The two families Yahweh chose have been rejected, and this has earned
them a reproach from the Gentiles, who reckon them no longer a nation
among nations of the world. But Yahweh in the oracle says once again that if
his covenant with Creation has not been established (and it has been), then he
will reject the seed of Jacob and David and not take from the latter anyone to
rule over the seed of the former. Yahweh closes the oracle, and also the col-
lected promises of the Book of Restoration, with the repeated promise that he
will restore people's fortunes. More important, in the days ahead he will show
them his infinite store of divine mercy.
These two covenant promises date to after the fall of Jerusalem, and, while
they may be later than the promises in 31:35-37 (Lust 1994: 42-43), they still
do not require a postexilic date.
Concluding the Book of Restoration with these covenants to David and
Phinehas confirms to a post-586 audience promises made in the oracles of
vv 14-18, and together the four oracles in vv 14-26 make specific the more-
general promises to the nation in the four oracles of vv 1-13. The focus on
Yahweh's covenants with his people also establishes continuity with the new
covenant and eternal covenant promises in 31 :31-34 and 3 2: 3 8-40-one
covenant only-for Israel and Judah in future days.