The Jeremian Oracles against the Nations

Abstract

A substantial portion of the book of Jeremiah consists of the Oracles against the Nations (OAN), a common prophetic genre of threats and predictions of violence directed at foreign nations. In Jeremiah, the OAN are significantly different in the Masoretic (Hebrew) and Septuagint (Greek) texts, including their length, their internal order, and their location in the book. While the function of the OAN is unclear, their literary character is undeniable. Primarily poetry, they present a dense collection of evocative images of violence and destruction. Sound, gender, and the “nation” are all themes of interest in the OAN. The OAN are a crucial part of the book of Jeremiah as a whole.