38 DAVID A. BOSWORTH not a mere display. I agree that weeping in secret can hardly be a dis- play for others, although here the speaker advertises secret weeping, which makes it a display. The language used to describe the weeping adds to the extravagant presentation of these sincere and secret tears. The speaker describes the weeping three times using three different verbal expressions. First, the texts says “My vpn will weep”, and hkb is the most common means of verbalizing weeping. The force of vpn here indicates the interior and emotional life of the person 46. Several texts evince a close connection between distress of vpn and weeping, but only Jer 13,17 and Ps 69,11 have vpn as the subject of hkb. Lam 1,16 suggests a connection between weeping and a vpn needing restoration, and both 1 Sam 1,10 and Ezek 27,31 connect bitterness of vpn with weeping. In Job 30,25, weeping and the griev- ing vpn are parallel. In Jer 13,17, Jeremiah/ YHWH’s vpn, like the term “secret”, suggests the sincerity of the tears. They arise from an inter- ior emotion rather than an insincere display. Second, the text uses an expression unique in ancient Hebrew: [mdt [mdw (“[my vpn] will surely weep”). Although the root [md occurs as a verb in Ugaritic, it is only a noun in Akkadian and appears as a verb only here in MT, although it surfaces in Sir 12,16; 31,13 and as a proposed reading in Isa 15,9. This is the only one of these occurrences that employs the infinitive absolute plus imperfect construction, evidently emphasiz- ing the frequency and duration of weeping. LXX does not reflect this unusual expression, and some commentators regard it as a later ad- dition 47. The third and final expression of the speaker’s secret tears employs the idiom h[md yny[ drtw (“my eye goes down with tears”). This brief passage employs three verbal expressions to describe weeping over the pride of the people (v. 15 and 17), which has led them into exile (v. 17). That these tears are advertised as shed “in se- cret” by “my vpn” highlights their sincerity. Jeremiah/ YHWH may be proclaiming doom and divine anger, but he and YHWH also feel pro- found sorrow at the impending disaster. This text announces YHWH’s (and Jeremiah’s) secret tears in hopes that the people will be moved to restore the relationship through repentance. See HALOT I, 731, which proposes “soul” in the sense of “the center 46 and transmitter of feelings and perceptions”. Many scholars seek to avoid “soul” as anachronistic. The above translation “inmost self” is from NJPSV. MCKANE, Jeremiah, 1.300; RUDOLPH, Jeremia, 92. 47 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati