THE PROPHECY for "eVERLASTING COVENANT" (JEREMIAH XXXII 36-41): AN EXILIC ADDITION or A DEUTERONOMISTIC REDACTION?

This paper draws attention to the exact relationship between the prophecy for "everlasting covenant" ( Jer. xxxii 36-41) and the words of the prophet and his ideological agenda on the one hand, and the redactional level of the Book of Jeremiah on the other. Examination of the genre of the prophetical unit presents it to be a quasidisputation- speech, and a further testimony to the exilic voices in Jeremiah on the controversy between the Jehoiachin exiles and the remnant. A close reading of the verses gives evidence to five different ways of dependence on and independence from both the words of the prophet and the redactional additions to Jeremiah. Hence, this prophecy demonstrates the composition of a new independent prophecy within exilic context, and thus adduces the question whether the exilic material within Jeremiah can still be restricted to Deuteronomistic circles.