Legends of Jeremiah-Exegesis (I): The eschatological Scheme in the alexandrian Book of Jeremiah

The article examines the widely accepted theory that the Alexandrian edition of the book of Jeremiah, as represented by the Septuagint, is structured in line with the so-called "tripartite eschato-logical pattern", a way of organizing prophetical books in three major sections:first, oracles of doom for Israel; second, oracles of doom for the nations; and third, oracles of salvation for Israel. The scrutiny concludes that the theory fails to give proper consideration to the preponderance of prophecies and descriptions of doom in part three of the Greek Jeremiah, chaps. 33-52 (Hebrew 26-45 + 52). Moreover, if indeed a redactor had wished to subject the book to the eschatological pattern, the material would have afforded him opportunities to arrange it in ways much more amenable to the pattern. Therefore, the theory should be abandoned. More probably, chaps. 26-45 + 46-49 + 50-51 in the Hebrew serve to illustrate the doom announced first on Judah, then on the foreign nations, and finally on Babylon in Jer 25:15-29.