Texts in Conversation
Jeremiah 19:4 echoes Deuteronomy 27:25 to highlight how the nation's leaders have violated core covenantal obligations, particularly by shedding innocent blood. By alluding to this curse, Jeremiah frames the people's actions not only as moral failures but as transgressions of the covenant.
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Deuteronomy 27:25
Hebrew Bible
22 ‘Cursed is the one who goes to bed with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 23 ‘Cursed is the one who goes to bed with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 24 ‘Cursed is the one who kills his neighbor in private.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 25 ‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 26 ‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Jeremiah 19:4
Hebrew Bible
3 Say, ‘Listen to the Lord’s message, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, has said, “Look here! I am about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring. 4 I will do so because these people have rejected me and have defiled this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children. 5 They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make. They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... What matters here in terms of divine service and masculinity is Judas’s acknowledgement that he has not acted as a disciple or divine servant, but instead handed over God’s servant. Judas returns to the chief priests and elders to confess his sin, saying that he has handed over “innocent blood” (αἷμα ἀθῷον). As discussed in the previous section, the phrase “innocent blood” recalls Deuteronomy 27:25, which curses anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood. (Luz notes that this phrase is used “about 19 times” in the Septuagint. Luz, Matthew, 470, note 33. Carter highlights its use in 2 Kings 21:16; 24:1-4; Jeremiah 7:5-7; 1 Maccabees 1:37; 2 Maccabees 1:7-8, as well as the presence of blood of the innocent in Jeremiah 19:4, which includes the purchase of a potter’s field.) It also anticipates 27:24, when Pilate will claim his own innocence with respect to Jesus using the same expression, stating Jesus’s innocence by implication ..."
Mohn, Kendra Allison
Real Men: Masculinities in the Gospel of Matthew
(pp. 267-268) Brite Divinity School, 2018
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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