A LATE INTERPOLATION IN JEREMIAH'S FIRST DISCOURSE (B)1

(Ch. ii, 14-19)

Is Israel a servant or home-born slave?
Over him young lions are roaring.
They have laid his land waste;

Why is he now a prey? They gave forth their cry; his cities are burned up,

Without an inhabitant.

The children of Noph and Tahpanhes also
Have broken the crown of his head.

Hast thou not brought this on thyself?

Thou didst forsake Yahweh, thy God, who led thee on thy way.
Now why art thou on the road to Egypt?
Is it to drink of the waters of Sihor?
Or why art thou on the road to Assyria?
To drink of the great river?

Thy offenses shall be a punishment to thee,
Thy backslidings shall judge thee.

Know now and see, that thy forsaking of Yahwe.
Was evil and bitter to thee,

And that no fear of Me is in thee, saith Yahweh, thy God.

A VERY LATE

PREFACE TO THE PROPHECY OF THE SCYTHIAN INVASION (C)

(Ch. iii, 6-iv, 2; ix, 1-2)

Yahweh said unto me in the days of Josiah the king: Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel hath done? She hath gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things: Turn thou unto Me. But she returned not, and her faithless sister Judah saw it. And I saw that when, for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of 1 The capital letters in parentheses refer the reader to the divisions in the preceding Booklet, from which these are excerpted.

divorce, yet her faithless sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass, through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stocks and stones. And yet, for all this, her faithless sister Judah hath not turned unto Me with all her heart, but feignedly, saith Yahweh.

And Yahweh said unto me: Apostate Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words towards the

north; and thou shalt say:

Return, O apostate Israel!

In anger upon you,

No longer will I look

for I am merciful.

I will not keep Mine anger for ever;

Only acknowledge thy guilt, for against thy God thou hast sinned,
And hast opened thy ways to aliens under every green tree.
But unto My voice thou hast not listened, saith Yahweh.

Return, O apostate children, saith Yahweh, for I am married to you.
I will choose you, one of a city and two of a family,
And I will bring you to Zion.

And I will give you shepherds after My own heart,
Who shall feed you with knowledge and wisdom.

And when ye shall be multiplied and increased in the land.
No more shall ye say "The Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh,"
Nor shall it come to mind: none shall remember it,
Nor visit it, nor shall it be made again.

In that day they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of Yahweh;
And to her shall be gathered all nations

To the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem;

And no more shall they walk in the obstinacy of their evil heart.
The House of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel;
Together shall they come from the northland to the land
That I gave to their fathers for a possession.

Then I said: How like sons I will treat thee,
And give thee a pleasant land!

A glorious inheritance among the nations!

And I said: Thou shalt call Me "My Father",
Thou shalt not turn aside from Me.

But as a woman is faithless to her lover, so verily have ye
Been faithless unto Me, O House of Israel.

A voice is heard in the high places,

Weeping and prayers of the Children of Israel,
For they have perverted their way,
They have forgotten Yahweh, their God.

Return, ye apostate sons,
Behold, we come unto Thee,
Truly, in vain from the hills,
Is salvation for Israel;

and I will heal your apostasy!
for Thou art Yahweh, our God.
from the crowds on the mountains,
only from Yahweh, our God.

For, from our youth, Baal hath devoured
The fruit of our fathers' toil,-
Their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
We lie down in our shame, and shame is our covering.
For against Yahweh, our God, we have sinned,
We, and our fathers.

From our youth even unto this day we have not obeyed
The voice of Yahweh, our God.

If thou wilt return, O Israel, return unto Me,
If thou wilt put thine abominations away,
Thou shalt not be thrust away.

And thou shalt swear "By the life of Yahweh" in truth,
In justice and righteousness;

And in Him shall the nations be blessed,
And in Him shall they glory.

A LATE APPENDIX TO THE TEMPLE DISCOURSE (E)

Thus saith Yahweh:

(Ch. ix, 22-24, x, 1-16)

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man
Glory in his might.

Let not the rich man glory in riches; but let him

That glorieth, glory in this,

That he understandeth and knoweth Me: that I am Yahweh,
Who doth act with Mercy, Justice, and Righteousness
In the earth;

For in these things I delight, saith Yahweh.

Behold, the days come, saith Yahweh, that I will punish all them that are circumcised in their uncircumcision: Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moah, and all that have the corners of their beards polled that dwell in the wilderness.

For all the nations are uncircumcised; but the House of Israel
Are uncircumcised in the heart.

Hear ye the word which Yahweh speaketh unto you, O House of Israel! Thus saith Yahweh:

Learn not ye the way of the nations

and be not dismayed

At the signs of the heavens, because the nations are dismayed.

For the rites of these peoples are vain.

One heweth a tree of the forest for the work of the artisan;
They adorn it will silver and gold, with hammers and nails;
They fasten it that it be not unsteady.

Like a palm-tree of graven work,

They must needs be carried,

Be not afraid of them;

But neither have they power

they cannot speak,
for they cannot walk.
they can do no harm;
to do any good.

There is none like unto Thee, O Yahweh; great Thou art,
And great is the power of Thy name.

Who would not reverence Thee, O King of Nations!
For to Thee is reverence due.

Among all the wise men of the nations, in all their kingdoms,
There is none like unto Thee!

They are altogether foolish and brutish.

Their religion is one of frauds,

of gods made of trees;

Plates of beaten silver are brought from Tarshish,

And gold from Uphaz;

Work from the hand of the smelter, and of the graver;

Their clothing of blue and purple, the work of skilled men.

But the true God, the Living God, is Yahweh, the Eternal King.
At His wrath the earth shall tremble, the Nations are unable

To abide His indignation.

Thus shall ye say unto them:

The gods which have not made
Shall perish from the earth,

the heavens and the earth, from beneath these heavens. He hath made the earth by His power, and established the world By His wisdom,

And hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion.

When He giveth forth His voice,
He maketh vapors arise

lo, a tumult of waters in heaven! from the ends of the earth.

He maketh lightnings with rain
And bringeth forth wind from His treasures.

All mankind is brutish

Every artist is put to shame by

For his castings are falsehood,

They are all vanity,

In the time of their visitation

and is without knowledge.
his molten image,

there is no breath in them.
the creations of delusion.
they shall perish.

Not like these is the Portion of Jacob.

The Framer of All Things is He,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
Yahweh Sabaoth is His name.

A FRAGMENT

(Ch. x, 25)1

Pour out Thy fury upon the nations
Upon the families that call not

For they have devoured Jacob
They have put an end to him and

that know Thee not,
upon Thy name;
and he is destroyed;

made his habitation desolate.

ANOTHER FRAGMENT

(Ch. xi, 13-15)

What hath My beloved to do in My house,
Who hath wrought evil with many?

The holy flesh hath passed from thee, because of thy wickedness.
An olive-tree, fresh and fair of form, once thou wert called.

With a noise of great tumult,

Fire is burning and destroying thy branches;

For Yahweh Sabaoth who planted thee hath pronounced evil against thee, because of the evil of the House of Israel and of the House of Judah, which they have wrought for themselves in provoking Me by offering incense to Baal.

SIX FRAGMENTS PRESERVED IN CHAPTER XII'

Righteous art Thou, O Yahweh! but let me talk of Thy judgments.
Why doth the way of the wicked prosper, yet cheats and traitors are at
ease?

Thou hast planted them, they take root, they grow and bear fruit.
Near art Thou to their mouth, but far from their inward parts.
But Thou, O Yahweh, knowest me, Thou hast seen and proved my heart.
Pull them out, like sheep for the slaughter.
Prepare them for the day of slaughter.

(Ch. xii, 1-3)

1 A prayer for vengeance upon the people who have already despoiled Judah. Exilic. 2 Chapter xii is a collection of short poems showing no trace of Jeremianic authorship, picturing in varying imagery the desolation of Zion and the misery of her exiled people. The last one gives a promise of restoration, which suggests that it is of a later date than the rest.

How long shall the land mourn, and every herb wither.
For the wickedness of them that dwell therein?

The beasts are consumed, and the birds,
For they have said: He shall not see
The end of us ali.

(Ch. xii, 4)

If thou have run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee,
How canst thou contend with war-horses?

If thou didst put thy trust in a land of peace,
How wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
For even thy brethren and thy father's house,
Even they have betrayed thee;

Believe them not then, though they speak fairly to thee.

(Ch. xii, 5-6)

I have forsaken My house, I have given up My heritage;
I have given the beloved of My soul into the hands of foes.
Mine heritage is to Me like a lioness in the forest.
She hath given forth her voice against Me,

Therefore have I hated her.

Mine heritage is to Me like a bird of prey;

The birds round about are against her.
Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard,
They have trodden My lot underfoot;

They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
They have made it desolate; and, desolate, it mourneth to Me.

The whole land is made desolate, because no man careth for it.
Upon all the bare heights in the desert have spoilers come.
From one end of the land even to the other,

No flesh shall have peace.

They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns,
They shall put themselves to pain, but profit not.
They shall be ashamed of their harvest
Because of the fierce wrath of Yahweh.

(Ch. xii, 7-12)

Thus saith Yahweh: As for all My neighbors that touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit, behold, I will pluck them up from all their land, and will pluck up the House of Judah from among them.

And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them out,
That I will have compassion upon them,

And I will return and bring them again

Every one to his heritage, and every one to his land.

And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people,

To swear by My name, the Living Yahweh, as they taught My sons

To swear by Baal,

They shall then be built up in the midst of My people; But, if they will not obey, I will root out and destroy

That nation, saith Yahweh.

(Ch. xii, 14-17)