Thursday, January 10, 2019

John A. Thompson on Jeremiah 10:11 being a later scribal interpolation

Conservative Evangelical scholar John A. Thompson wrote the following about Jer 10:11 being an interpolation to the book of Jeremiah: 

Presumably this Aramaic verse, which interrupts the flow of vv. 10, 12, 13, represents a scribal comment. It is not impossible that this is a well-known saying. That it is in Aramaic is no necessary argument for a late date, since Aramaic was widely known in Western Asia and among people on Israel’s borders. Even so, it may represent a marginal note added later by an Aramaic speaker. The thought is in any case not inconsistent with Jeremiah’s outlook. (John A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah [New International Commentary on the Old Testament; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1980], 330, emphasis added)


 For more on Jer 10:11 and the question of (1) its authenticity and (2) theology, see: