William M. Schniedewind on the Differences between LXX ("Short") and MT ("Long") Jeremiah

The ”long” Jeremiah is the version we encounter in most English Bibles, which is based on the Hebrew Masoretic Text. It will help to lay the organization of short and long versions out in a chart:

 

“Short” Jeremiah	“Long” Jeremiah
1:1-25:13a	1:1-25:13a
25:13b-19	49:34-39
26:1-18	46:1-18
27:1-28:64	50:1-51:64
29:1-23	47:1-22
30:1-5	49:1-5
30:6-16	49:28-27
31:1-44	48:1-44
32:1ff.	25:15ff.

 

Both versions begin the same, and in the middle of chapter 25 the organization of the book diverges dramatically. The short version seems to follow a more chronological organization, while the long version seems to have a more thematic arrangement. The differences also highlight that the first half of the Book of Jeremiah follows the same order, which suggests that an early version of the Book of Jeremiah existed up through the middle of chapter 25. And that is the way Jeremiah 25 presents itself, concluding in verse 13a as follows: “I will bring upon the land all the words written in this scroll.” This seems to be the ending to an early scroll of the priest Jeremiah, but it is not the end of the story of the Book of Jeremiah.

 

The missing parts in the shorter Jeremiah are concentrated in the second half of the book, but there are a few expansions and additions in the first half as well. Some of the major omissions include

 

10:6–8, 10 (poem about God’s greatness)

11:7–8 (divine warnings for obedience)

17:1–4 (the sin of Judah)

39:4–13 (fate of King Zedekiah and the exiles)

48:45–46 (condemnation of Moab)

51:44–49 (condemnation of Babylon)

 

The differences are significant and reflect two different paths for the traditions about Jeremiah. These two paths likely followed the exiles and refugees themselves, one to Egypt and a second to Babylon.

 

One of the most striking differences between the short and the long version of Jeremiah is the consistent description of Jeremiah as a “prophet” in the longer version. The long Jeremiah adds the title “the prophet” twenty-seven times where it is missing in the short version. In other words, the long version transforms Jeremiah into “the prophet” through its editing. Here are just a few examples:

 

Short Jeremiah (LXX-NETS)	Long Jeremiah (MT-NRSV)
26:13 What the Lord spoke by the hand of Jeremiah . . .	46:13 The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about . . .
35:5-6 And Jeremiah said to Hananiah in the sight of all the people and in the sight of the priests who stood in the house of the Lord, and Jeremiah said, “Truly, thus may the Lord do . . .	28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD; and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so . . .
36:1 And these are the words of the book, which Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the elders of the exile and to the pseudo-prophets, an epistle to Babylon for the exile to all the people . . .	29:1 These are the words of the scroll that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders, among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people . . .
39:2 . . . and Jeremiah was being confined in the court of the guard that was in the house of the king.	32:2 . . . and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the house of the king.
41:6 And Jeremiah spoke all these words to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem . . .	34:6 And the prophet Jeremiah spoke all these words to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem . . .
43:8 And Baruch did according to all that Jeremiah commanded him . . .	36:8 And Baruch did according to all that the prophet Jeremiah commanded him . . .
43:26 And the king commanded to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah	26:26 And the king commanded to arrest Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah
44:2, 3 . . . the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah. And King Zedekiah sent . . . to Jeremiah.	37:2, 3 . . . the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah. And King Zedekiah sent . . . to the prophet Jeremiah.
44:6 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah . . .	37:6 The word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah . . .
44:13 . . . Sarouiah, son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah arrested Jeremiah.	37:13 . . . Irijah, son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, arrested the prophet Jeremiah
45:9-10 You acted wickedly in what you did to kill this person . . . bring him up out of the cistern so that he will not die!	38:9-10 My lord king, these men acted wickedly in what you did to the prophet Jeremiah . . . pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies!
45:14 And the king sent word and called for him . . .	38:14 And King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah . . .
49:4 And Jeremiah said to them . . .	42:4 And the prophet Jeremiah said to them . . .

 

From this consistent titling of Jeremiah, it becomes clear that the priest Jeremiah has been systematically changed into the prophet Jeremiah in the longer version. This refashioning of Jeremiah from a priest into a prophet was likely done by a priestly scribal community in Jerusalem during the early Persian period. They did not want Jeremiah to be identified by his priestly heritage but rather as a prophet.

 

. . .

 

The two scrolls of Jeremiah tell the story of two different scribal communities—the peripheral priests that reflect the original figure of Jeremiah, a priest from Anathoth, and the royal administration that was exiled to Babylon and survived in a palace in the Babylonian capital supplied by rations from the royal table. The scrolls will eventually make their way back to Jerusalem to the library of the rebuilt Temple. They are updated, even partially harmonized, but the two Jeremiah editions continue to have their own lives. These two editions were preserved by the scribal community that would survive the Babylonian exile—namely, the Jerusalem Temple priestly scribal community. (William M. Schniedewind, Who Really Wrote the Bible: The Story of the Scribes [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2024], 218-21, 225)