Zedekiah's Covenant (34:1-22) 551
2 Kgs 25:6-7). Once again, Rudolph and Holladay want to delete "and to Baby-
lon you shall go" as prophecy after the event (cf. 39:7). But if Zedekiah is not
to die, as the next oracle states, it stands to reason that he will be exiled to Baby-
lon. As a rebellious vassal, this king can expect no mercy from Nebuchadrez-
zar, and the sparing of his life under the conditions reported is scarcely a
merciful act. See also in this connection Ezek 17: 11-21.
and his mouth shall speak to your mouth. I.e., he shall speak to you "face to
face." Zedekiah will not be speaking to the king (pace RSV); the king will be
speaking to him (AV; NEB). The LXX text of Ziegler omits these words (they
are lacking in GB and other ancient witnesses), but the Rahlfs text includes
them (they are present in GA). The loss can be attributed to haplography (ho-
moeoarcton: w ... w). Giesebrecht, noting their presence in T and Vg, says
their inclusion is supported by 32:4 and that GB appears to be faulty. Cornill
and others retain.
- But hear the word of Yahweh, Zedekiah, king of Judah. Hebrew ) ak is a
strong "but;' which mitigates the consequences of Zedekiah's encounter with
Nebuchadrezzar, but only slightly (KimJ:ii; Calvin). The consolation promised
Zedekiah may even be spoken with a tinge of irony, with Jeremiah pretending
that things will go well for the king when they will not. Zedekiah will survive
his capture and be given a burial, but the circumstances leave much to be de-
sired, particularly when the prior oracle has been heard. Also, it is something
less than high praise to be promised a fate better than what was promised Je-
hoiakim (22: 18-19; 36:30). Some commentators want a conditional word here,
making the oracle like the one in 38: 17-18. They therefore imagine a loss of
words expressing a condition (Peake; Volz; Hyatt), or they interpret ) ak as "if
only" (Weiser; Boadt) or sema' as a strong "obey!" (Rudolph; Bright; Holladay).
But this introductory word is not "if (only) you will hear ... "; it is "but
hear ... !"The oracle following is straightforward judgment (McKane).
Thus said Yahweh concerning you. The LXX omits 'aleyka ("concerning
you"), which is redundant in view of the second person verb following. But T
and Vg have the pronoun.
4-5. You shall not die by the sword; in peace you shall die. Another syntactic chi-
asmus in the Hebrew. That Zedekiah will die "in peace" (besal6m) means that
he will not die by the sword (KimJ:ii; Calvin; Giesebrecht; Ehrlich 1912: 329; cf.
1 Kgs 2:5-6). Calvin notes that Zedekiah's fate is less grim than what was pre-
dicted for Jehoiakim, who could expect no burial. As things turned out, Zede-
kiah did not die by violent means; instead he was required to make the long walk
to Babylon, where he languished, a blind man, in prison until the day of his
death. The prophecy regarding Josiah's death turned out differently. Huldah told
Josiah that he would go to his grave "in peace" (besalom), but according to the
Deuteronomic account, he was killed in battle (2 Kgs 23:29-30). The Chroni-
cler modifies this slightly, having him wounded at Megiddo and dying in Jerusa-
lem, after which he was buried in the tombs of his fathers (2 Chr 35:23-24).
You shall not die by the sword. The LXX omits, which eliminates the explicit
contrast. The T and Vg have the words, which are best retained with MT
