two ancient editions of Jeremiah
The Masoretic and Septuagintal versions of the book of Jeremiah differ substantially. The majority view is that the Septuagintal version is older in the case of the book of Jeremiah.[1] The detailed work I have done so far confirms the majority view.[2] Some of the Hebrew manuscript fragments of Jeremiah among the Dead Sea Scrolls are like the Masoretic (2QJer, 4QJera, 4QJerc, 4QJere) and others like the Septuagintal version (4QJerb, 4QJerd).[3]
Jeremiah 10:3-11 is a satire on idols. The Septuagintal version and 4QJerb both lack verses 6-8 and 10, which glorify God. That is, these verses represent a plus in the Masoretic version (verse 9 is extant in 4QJera also).[4] In the table below I have compared the Septuagintal and Masoretic versions side by side with 4QJerb, and I have included in parentheses 10:9 and 10:13a from 4QJera which agrees with the Masoretic version over and against 4QJerb and the Septuagintal version.[5]
| Septuagintal version | Masoretic version | 4QJerb 10:4, 9, 11, 13; 4QJera 10:9-14 (only 10:9, 13 included here) |
| 10:3 because the precepts of the nations are vain: there is a tree from the forest, cut down, a work of a craftsman, and a molten image. | 10:3 For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan; |
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| 10:4 They have been beautified with silver and gold; they fastened them with hammers and nails, and they shall not be moved. | 10:4 people deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. |
10:4 they deck it
[with silver and with go]ld; [they fasten it] with hammer [and nails so that
it cannot move]. |
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10:5a Wrought silver it is – they will not walk.
10:9 Beaten silver will come from Tharsis, gold of Mophas and a hand of goldsmiths – works of craftsmen all; they will clothe them in blue and purple. 10:5b Raised they will be carried, because they will not walk. Do not be afraid of them, because they shall not do evil, and there is no good in them. |
10:5 Their idols [Heb they] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good. | 10:9 [Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz; they are all the products of skilled workers, and the hands of the goldsmith], with blue and purple [for their clothing. |
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10:6 There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might. |
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10:7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For that is your due; among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is no one like you. |
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10:8 They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction given by idols is no better than wood! |
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10:9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is blue and purple; they are all the product of skilled workers. | (4QJera/MT reads the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith, with blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the product of skilled workers.) |
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10:10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. |
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| 10:11 Thus shall you say to them: Let gods who did not make the sky and the earth perish from the earth and from under this sky. | 10:11 Thus shall you say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens. [This verse is in Aramaic] | 10:11 [This is what you shall say to them: [The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth] will perish from the earth [and from under the heavens. |
| 10:12 It is the Lord who made the earth by his strength, who set upright the world by his wisdom, and by his prudence he stretched out the sky, | 10:12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. |
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| 10:13 and a quantity of water was in the sky, and he brought up clouds from the end of the earth. Lightnings he made into rain, and he brought out light from his storehouses. | 10:13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses. | 10:13 (When [he] utters his voi[ce, [4QJera/MT; missing from 4QJerc/LXX]) there is a tumult of waters in the heavens], and he makes clouds rise [from the en]ds of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, [and] brings forth the wind [from his storehouses. |
[1]
Prominent critical and evangelical scholars contest the majority opinion, like
J. Lundbom, P. Gentry. For
bibliographical details see working bibliography. With respect to “the book of Jeremiah begins to be circulated”
in the figure, I am not here concerned with any particular theory of authorship,
whether traditional (Jeremiah and Baruch), Mowinckel (type A, B, C materials),
Nicholson (two stage—Jeremiah/Baruch and Deuteronomists), McKane (“rolling
corpus”), or other views.
[2]
I have done close comparison of several chapters for my course on the prophets
and my Jeremiah elective, each pointing toward the Septuagintal version as
older than the Masoretic (so far chaps 1, 25, 26, 7, 36, 51).
[3]
The figure is adapted from Tov 1985, 216. 4QJerb is not identical with the LXX,
pointing to scribal development in one or both (see Tov 1985, 211-237 for
details).
[4]
See Abegg et al. 1999, 382, 388; Tov 2001, 320-26.
[5]
Translations from NETS, NRSV, and Abegg et al. 1999.
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