A Scroll for Future Days (36:1-32) 611and his dead body shall be thrown out to the heat by day and the frost by night.
The non-lament for Jehoiakim in 22: 18-19 says as much. On the indignity of a
nonburial, see Note on 7:33. There is an irony here: Jehoiakim in the cold of
winter is sitting by a warm fire, but his dead body will be left to the dry heat of
day (~oreb) and the frost of night. When the two narrative segments are heard
together, a wordplay will also emerge on the verb slk, "to throw": when the
scroll was read, Jehoiakim "would throw" (haslek) pieces into the fire (v 23);
now his dead body "shall be thrown" (musleket) on open ground, where it will
be exposed to the elements (Kessler 1966: 398). For more discussion on how
Jehoiakim met his end, see Note for 22:19.- And I will reckon upon him and upon his offspring and upon his servants
their iniquity. On the Jeremianic verb pqd ("reckon, attend to"), see Note for
5:9. The LXX omits "their iniquity."
and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the
men ofludah all the evil that I spoke to them, but they did not listen. Judgment
comes because Yahweh spoke evil against the people and they would not lis-
ten. The LXX has "and I will bring upon him" singular (i.e., the king), "upon
the land of Judah," and "all the evils" plural. - So Jeremiah took another roll. The entire verse is a summary statement
like the one in v 8. The LXX has "and Baruch took another roll," followed by a
number of omissions. The MT reading is supported by CL, S, T, and Vg. Giese-
brecht thinks the LXX has abridged; Volz says that Jeremiah must remain the
key figure, which is probably right (so also Rudolph).
and gave it to Baruch son ofNeriah, the scribe. The LXX omits, wl1ich can be
attributed to haplography (homoeoarclou: wy ... wy). "The scribe" refers to
Baruch, since in compound names the title applies to the person with two
names rather than to one person or the other. The father, Neriah, was also
doubtless a scribe.
Jehoiakim, king of Judah. The LXX omits "king of Judah."
burned in the fire. The LXX omits "in the fire."
And besides, many words like these were added to them. On a plural object
after a passive verb, see Note for 35:14. This rewritten scroll-or a subsequent
version of it, I have called the First Edition of chaps. 1-20 (see §Introduction:
The First Edition of the Book of Jeremiah). The expression nosap <a.lehem
debarfm rabbfm kahemmfl, "many words like these were added to them," refers
mainly to what was written by Baruch, not to later additions made by others
(E. Nielson 1954: 78).
MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
The audience is informed in this concluding narrative segment that Yahweh's
word came again to Jeremiah after the scroll dictated to Baruch was burned by
Jehoiakim in the fire. The king's action was not the end of the matter. Jeremiah
is now directed to get another roll and write up everything contained on the
first roll. He is also given two divine oracles to proclaim. The first indicts