584 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSevidence, being dismissed even by Thiel (1981: 50 n. 3). The chapter is assur-
edly not legend, as Muilenburg (1970a: 233-34) correctly points out (pace
Kessler 1966: 390; cf. Koch 1969: 201 ). Other late twentieth-century views,
e.g., those of Wanke 1971: 59-74; Carroll; and McKane, that chap. 36 is "story"
or a literary work with minimal historical concerns, build either on a mistaken
genre assessment or genre confusion. It is as if a narrative having literary qual-
ity and expressing theological concerns cannot also report a historical event.
Zimmerli (1995: 428) says: "With the account of Jeremiah 36, we enter histori-
cally secure territory," and there is scant reason to doubt that this is the case. As
has often been pointed out, the chapter is filled with precise times and loca-
tions, numerous names and patronyms, and other circumstantial details that
only an eyewitness or someone having spoken to an eyewitness could report
(so Peake; Rudolph; Bright; Thompson; Boadt; Holladay). Baruch is said to
have read the scroll "in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the scribe,
in the upper court at the opening of the New Gate in the house of Yahweh"
(v 10). Then when the narrator has us accompany Micaiah son of Gemariah,
son of Shaphan, into the palace chamber, we see sitting there Elishama, the
scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of
Shaphan, and Zedekiah son of Hananiah (v 12). Similarly, when we enter the
king's winter quarters, Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah are standing next to
the king and urging him not to burn the scroll, after which we hear Jehoiakim
command Jerahmeel, the king's son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son
of Abdeel to seize Baruch and Jeremiah (vv 25-26). The narrative throughout
is brief, concise, and teeming with detail.
The MT and LXX diverge here as elsewhere, with the L.,XX in all but a few
cases being the shorter text. These divergences are a minor issue to most every-
one except McKane, who, along with Holladay, supports the shorter LXX with
predictable consistency. Yet there are twelve arguable cases for LXX haplogra-
phy in the chapter, which means the respective merits of the MT and LXX
must be reevaluated. Of these twelve haplographies, only two are listed by Jan-
zen (1973: 118-19).
The present narrative segment is delimited at the top end by a dated super-
scription in v 1, before which is a petul:zah in MA and ML and a setumah in M~
This is also a chapter division. Delimitation at the lower end is by petu/:zah in
MA and MP and a setumah in ML after the summary statement in v 8. A new su-
perscription, also with a date, begins the next narrative segment in v 9. After v 3
is another setumah in MA and ML and a petul:zah in MP, which for some reason
separate Yahweh's command to Jeremiah that he write up a scroll and Jere-
miah's fulfillment of that command.
Structure is given to the present segment by repetition and the balancing of
key words and phrases (Abrego l 983a: 3-4; l 983b: 22):
v 3 Perhaps ('Ulay) the house of Judah will listen to all the evil that I am planning
to do to them, in order that they may tum each person from his evil
way, and I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.