4. Much difficulty has arisen with respect to the writ- ings of Jeremiah from the apparent disorder in which they stand in our present copies, and from the many disagreements between tVie Hebrew text and that found in the Septuagint version, and many conjectures have been hazarded respecting the occasion of this disorder. The following are the principal diversities between the two texts :
(«.) The chapters containing prophecies against for- eign nations are placed in a different part of the book, and the prophecies tliemselves arranged in a tlifferent order, as in the following table :
All nations, xxv, 14-38. Egypt, xliii, S-t3.
" xliv, 1-30.
" xlvi, 1-2S. Phil-stiues, xlvii,l-T. IMoab, xlviii, 1-47. Amnion, xlix, 1-5. |Edoin, xlix, T-'22. jDaniasens, xlix, '23-27. iKed.ir, xlix, 28-33. iElr.m, xlix, H4-39. Bubvlou, l,l^(i. ■" li, 1-64.
Septuagint.
23 JEREMIAH
' again di\-ided into strophes of from seven to niue verses, frc(iuently distuiguished by such a phrase as "The Lord said also unto me." These separate sections are
j arranged by Ewald so as to form five distinct books : I.
j The introduction, ch. i. II. Keproofs of the sins of the
I Jews, ch. ii-xxiv, consisting of seven sections, viz. 1. ch. ii ; 2. ch. iii-vi ; 3. ch. vii-x ; 4. ch. xi-xiii ; 5. ch. xiv-
! xvii, 18; G. ch. xvii, 19-xx; 7. ch. xxi-xxiv. III. A general review of all nations, the heathen as well as the people of Israel, ccinsisiiiig (if two sections: 1. ch. xlvi-
j xlix (whicli he iliiiiks li,i\c lieen transposed); 2. chaji.
I xxv, and a hi^tmiral appendix of three sections: 1. ch. xxvi ; 2. cli. xxvii ; and 3. ch. xxviii, xxix. IV. Two sections picturing the hopes of brighter times: 1. ch. XXX, xxxi ; and 2. ch. xxxii, xxxiii ; to -which, as in the last boolc,is added a historical appendix in three sections : 1. ch. xxxiv, 1-7 ; 2. ch. xxxiv, 8-22 ; 3. ch. xxxv. V.
^ The conclusion, in two sections ; 1. ch. xxxvi ; 2. ch. xlv. All this, he supposes, was arranged in I'alestine during the short interval of rest between the taking of the city and the departure of Jeramiah with the remnant of the Jews to Egypt. In Egypt, after some interval, Jere-
' miali added three sections, viz. ch. xxxvii, xxxix, xl-
I xliii, and xliv. At the same time, probably, he added
xlvi, 13-20, to the pre-
Clironolngical.
Elam, xxv, end (xlix, 34-39). Egypt, xxvi, entire (xlvi, 1-2S). Babylon, xxvii, entire (1, l-t(i).
" xxviii, entire (li, 1-(M). Philistines, xxix, begin, (xlvii, 1-7). Eiloin, xxix, (.•;i(l (xlix, 7-22). Amnion, xxx, bcLriii, (xlix, 1-5). Kedar, xxx, niiildle (xlix, 2S-33). Daniascns, xxx, end (xlix, 23-27). Moal), xxxi, <-nlii-e (xlviii, 1-44). All nations, xxxii, entire (xxv, 15-38). Tiie other chajjs, (xxxiii-li) follow iu
the same order as the Heb. (xsvi-
xlv).
Egypt, xlvi, 1-12.
Surrounding na- tions, xxv.
Moab, Amnion, Edom, Damas- cus.Kedar, and Elam, xlviii, xlix.
Babylon, 1, li.
Philistines, xlvii.
Egvpt, xliii, S-1,3, xliv, xlvi, 1.3-28.
B.C. C07. " 607.
587,
(h.) Various passages which exist in the Hebrew are not found in the Greek copies (e. g. xxvii, 19-22 ; xxxiii, 14-26 ; xxxix, 4-14 ; xlviii, 45-47). Besides these dis- crepancies, there are numerous omissions and frequent variations of single words and phrases (Movers, De iitri- iisqne Vaticiniorum Jeremue recensiunis indole et ori(jine, p. 8-32). To explain these diversities, recourse has been had to tlie hypothesis of a double recension, a hypothesis which, with various modilication,s, is held by most modern critics (M()\(!s, iit supra; De Wette, Lehrhuch der Hist.-Crit. Einhii. ;„ ,1. Alt. Test. p. 303; Ewald, Propheten des A It. Bund, ii, I'o ; Keil, Eiiilcit. p. 800 sq. ; Wichelhaus, Z>e Jeremue vers. Alex. Hal. 1847).
Various attempts have been made to accoimt for the present (apparently) disordered arrangement of Jere- miali's predictions. Rejecting those that proceed u]ion the assumption of accident (Blaynej', Notes, p. 3) or the caprice of an amanuensis (Eichhorn, Einl. iii, 134), we notice that of Ewald (with which Umbreit substantially agrees, Praktisch. Comment, uher den Jeremia, p. xxvii), who finds that various portions are prefaced by the same formula, " The word which came to .Jeremiah from the Lord" (vii, 2 ; xi, 1 ; xviii, 1 ; xxi, 1 ; xxv, 1 ; xxx, 1 ; xxxii, 1 • xxxiv, 1, 8 ; xxxv, 1 ; xl, 1 ; xliv, 1), or by tlie very similar ex]iression, " The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah" (xiv, 1 ; xlvi, 1 ; xlvii, 1 ; xlix, 34). The notices of time distinctly mark some other divisions which are more or less historical (xxvi, 1 ; xxvii, 1 ; xxxvi, 1 ; xxxvii, 1). Two other portions are in themselves sufKciently distinct Avithout such in- dication (xxix, 1 ; xlv, 1), while the general introduc- tion to the book serves for the section contained in ch. i. There are left two sections (chap, ii, iii), the former of which has only the shorter introduction, which gener- ally designates the commencement of a strophe ; while the latter, as it now stands, seems to be imperfect, hav- ing as an introduction merely the word '• saying." Thus the book is divided into twenty-three separate and in- dependent sections, which, in the poetical parts, are
vious prophecy respect- ing Egypt, and, perhaps, made some additions to other parts previously ■written.