Chapter Overview
Summary
Letter to the exiles. MT ch. 29 = LXX ch. 36. LXX is SIGNIFICANTLY shorter — vv. 16-20 are ENTIRELY ABSENT from LXX.
Notable Variants
LXX OMITS vv. 16-20 entirely — five full verses containing a judgment oracle against those who remained in Jerusalem (Zedekiah and the people not deported). This passage about 'vile figs' and 'sword, famine, and pestilence' is absent from the Greek. Many scholars see these verses as a later MT expansion, possibly added to harmonize with ch. 24 (good figs/bad figs). The shorter LXX preserves the earlier form of the letter.
Structural Notes
MT ch. 29 = LXX ch. 36. LXX OMITS vv. 16-20.
These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exile, to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon —
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had gone out from Jerusalem —
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah dispatched to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon. It said:
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Build houses and settle in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there — do not diminish.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Do not let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that you are prompting them to dream.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
For they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I did not send them, declares the LORD.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
For this is what the LORD says: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will attend to you and fulfill my good promise to you — to bring you back to this place.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD — plans for welfare and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
I will let myself be found by you, declares the LORD. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon' —
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
For this is what the LORD says concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and all the people who remain in this city — your relatives who did not go out with you into exile:
Masoretic (WLC)
כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהוָה אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ הַיּוֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא דָוִד וְאֶל־כָּל־הָעָם הַיּוֹשֵׁב בָּעִיר הַזֹּאת
For thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city.
Septuagint (LXX)
[absent from LXX]
[not present in LXX]
ENTIRELY ABSENT from LXX. This begins a five-verse unit (16-20) not found in the Greek. The passage reintroduces the 'bad figs' imagery from ch. 24 and appears to be a later editorial insertion in the MT.
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: I am sending against them the sword, famine, and plague. I will make them like rotten figs, so bad they cannot be eaten.
Masoretic (WLC)
כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת הִנְנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ בָּם אֶת־הַחֶרֶב אֶת־הָרָעָב וְאֶת־הַדָּבֶר
Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence.
Septuagint (LXX)
[absent from LXX]
[not present in LXX]
ABSENT from LXX. Part of the five-verse expansion.
I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague, and make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth — an object of cursing, devastation, scorn, and disgrace among all the nations where I have driven them,
Masoretic (WLC)
וְרָדַפְתִּי אַחֲרֵיהֶם בַּחֶרֶב בָּרָעָב וּבַדָּבֶר
And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence.
Septuagint (LXX)
[absent from LXX]
[not present in LXX]
ABSENT from LXX.
because they did not listen to my words, declares the LORD, when I sent my servants the prophets to them persistently — but you would not listen, declares the LORD.
Masoretic (WLC)
וּנְתַתִּים לְזַעֲוָה לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ
And I will deliver them to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Septuagint (LXX)
[absent from LXX]
[not present in LXX]
ABSENT from LXX.
But as for you — hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Masoretic (WLC)
תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר לֹא שָׁמְעוּ אֶל־דְּבָרַי נְאֻם־יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַחְתִּי אֲלֵיהֶם אֶת־עֲבָדַי הַנְּבִיאִים
Because they did not heed My words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets.
Septuagint (LXX)
[absent from LXX]
[not present in LXX]
ABSENT from LXX. This concludes the five-verse block absent from the Greek.
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: I am handing them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
From them a curse-formula will be drawn by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon: 'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire' —
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
because they committed outrageous acts in Israel: they committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and spoke lying words in my name, which I never commanded them. I am the one who knows, and I am the witness, declares the LORD.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
To Shemaiah the Nehelamite, say this:
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Because you sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying —
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
'The LORD has appointed you as priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be an overseer in the house of the LORD over every madman who acts as a prophet — you should put him in the stocks and the neck-iron.'
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
'So why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is acting as a prophet among you?
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
For he has sent word to us in Babylon saying: The exile will be long. Build houses and settle in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce.'
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Zephaniah the priest read this letter aloud in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
Send word to all the exiles: This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite — Because Shemaiah prophesied to you when I did not send him, and he made you trust in a lie,
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.
therefore this is what the LORD says: I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am going to do for my people, declares the LORD, because he spoke rebellion against the LORD.
LXX and MT are substantially identical here.