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In Jeremiah 26, God tells the prophet to address the “cities of Judah” from the temple courtyard, which doesn't fit the physical or narrative logic. The Greek Septuagint (Jeremiah 33) attempts to correct this by removing the reference to “cities.”
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jeremiah 26:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah at the beginning of the reign of Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah. 2 The Lord said, “Go stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word. 3 Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing.
Date: 500–401 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Jeremiah 33:2
Septuagint
1 IN THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF KING JOAKIM SON OF JOSIAS THERE CAME THIS WORD FROM THE LORD. 2 Thus said the Lord; Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and you shall declare to all the Jews, and to all that come to worship in the house of the Lord, all the words which I commanded you to speak to them; do not abate one word. 3 Perhaps they will hear, and turn every one from his evil way: then I will cease from the evils which I purpose to do to them, because of their evil practices.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... According to the Masoretic text of Jeremiah 26:2, the prophet should address “the cities of Judah” within the temple court. But it is impossible for cities to be situated inside the temple. Therefore, the Septuagint translator omits the word “cities” in LXX Jeremiah 33:2. Biblical metaphorical style would not justify a literary rendering in this case ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 35.
* 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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