Jeremiah’s 70-Year Prophecy 505 the degrees of dissonance that resonate through the various strata of his prophecies and the shape of the book that bears his name (8). Furthermore, Jeremiah does not elsewhere demonstrate a proclivity for making such specific predictions. His invectives concerning Judah are voiced in relatively general terms even when they apply to decidedly particular events or figures (i.e., the “foe from the north” references in Jer 1–11 (9)). More significantly, Jeremiah’s work is far more concerned with the here-and-now of his audience, relying on the conditions of the future only as a sounding board for how the people of Judah (and, in his early career, greater Israel) must behave in the present (10). Thus on its own, the 70-year prophecy is a literary conundrum, neither a retrospective insertion nor a definite prediction, occupying instead some symbolic purpose that has thus far been insufficiently addressed. 2. The ymq Atbash Codes bl/˚çç Alongside the conundrum of the 70-year prophecy (though typically seen as an independent issue) is a similar textual difficulty, namely, the terms ymq bl in Jer 51,1 and ˚çç Jer 51,41 (cf. also Jer 25,26). These terms are ciphered forms of the respective words µydçk and lbb, derived from the atbash method of literary coding common to ancient scribal practice in Semitic cultures (11). Scholars typically recognize the coding involved with these terms, though the question has persisted concerning why, in a text that so overtly discusses the fall of Babylon, the terms for µydçk and lbb were placed in coded form. A number of scholars have argued that the codification took place at the (8) Such a compositional approach may be detected in the prophet’s earliest compositions directed to the north; see M. SWEENEY, King Josiah of Judah. The Lost Messiah of Israel (New York – Oxford 2001) 232-233, who discusses the shift in tone from the early layers of Jer 30–31 to those of Jer 2–4. (9) The generality of this phrase, however, follows a pre-existing typology in 7th century Judean literature; see below. (10) Cf. Jer 2,2–4,2; 7,1-15. The redaction of older material into the Urrolle of Jer 36 constitutes an attempt to address the urgency of immediate theological fidelity in light of a shifting political spectrum; see LEUCHTER, Jeremiah, 211-220. (11) See A. DEMSKY, “A Proto-Canaanite Abecedary Dating from the Period of the Judges and its Implications for the History of the Alphabet”, Tel Aviv 4 (1977) 19-20. See also J. TIGAY, “An Early Technique of Aggadic Exegesis”, History, Historiography and Interpretation (eds. H. TADMOR – M. WEINFELD) (Jerusalem 1983) 176-181.