The differences between the Masoretic
and the Septuagintal texts are: the former has about 2700 words more than the
latter; the oracles against he nations come at the end of the Masoretic Text
but in the middle of the Septuagintal translation; and the other in which the
nations are addressed varies. Efforts to explain these differences and to
determine which of the two texts enjoys the greater antiquity have been
discussed at length. J. H. Thompson presented a helpful overview of the issues
debate. (J. H. Thompson, Book of Jeremiah) In a doctoral thesis, T.
Gerald Janzen pointed out that evidences from Qumran reignited a debate which
had almost completely subsided—with no position unanimously accepted—because the
Hebrew version was by and large supported by Qumran as representing the original
text. (J. Gerald Janzen, Studies in the Text of Jeramiah [Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1973], p. 7 and passim. Thompson, Book of Jeremiah,
p. 118 n. 2, referred to this work as the ‘most recent’ standard work) This
problem does not affect the messianic passages to any great degree. (Gerard Van
Groningen, Messianic Revelation in the Old Testament, 2 vols. [Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1990 repr., Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock,
1997], 2:682)
