Jeremiah 29:24-32

Shemaiah the Nehelamite rebuked and threatened.

On the arrival at Babylon of Jeremiah's letter, which ends with Jeremiah 29:23, there is much indignation on the part of the false prophets, and one of them, Shemaiah by name, writes to Zephaniah the acting high-priest, urging upon him that he should take severe measures to silence Jeremiah as a madman. This suggestion, however, Zephaniah is so far from following that he shews the letter to the prophet, who writes again to Babylon, this time for the purpose of condemning Shemaiah's conduct in the severest terms, and announcing its penalty.

The narrative forms an interesting supplement to the earlier part of the ch. Its form, it is true, leaves much to be desired, and Du. in fact describes it as exhibiting utter confusion, resulting from successive modifications. It is clearly one of the additions made by Baruch or by later hands. The charge brought by Jeremiah is introduced by the "Because" of Jeremiah 29:25, and continuing to the end of Jeremiah 29:28, remains incomplete. It is thus of the nature of the figure of speech called anacoluthon, and is taken up again by the "Because" of Jeremiah 29:31, a sentence which is carried by the "therefore, etc." of Jeremiah 29:32 to its logical conclusion. The LXX fail, either from the defective condition of the Hebrew text or otherwise, to see that Jeremiah 29:26 consist of Shemaiah's letter from Babylon. Thus for "saying … to Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 29:25) they substitute (suggested apparently by Jeremiah 29:31) "I did not send thee in my name," as though it were a Divine utterance addressed to Shemaiah. Moreover, they are obliged in Jeremiah 29:27 both to omit the negative and to make Jeremiah speak of himself in the 3rd person. Lastly, there is in their rendering no clue to the contents of "the letter" of Jeremiah 29:29.