Die letzte Konfession Jer 20,7–18

In the last confession of Jeremiah, Jer 20,7–18, the individual complaint in vv. 7–13 and the poem of vv. 14–18 appear to have been put side by side without any obvious connection. The present study seeks to establish the relationship between these pericopes. A closer analysis of the complaint from a literary critical point of view suggests that vv. 7a.8–9 form the basic layer of the pericope, while vv. 10.12 and 11.13 should be considered as later expansions. Vv. 7a.8–9 represents a prophetic complaint culminating in the recognition that it is YHWH himself who compels the prophet to perform his duties and to live in isolation. Under these circumstances, the self-cursing of vv. 14–18 is seen as the only possible, albeit irrational, way to revoke this prophetic existence characterized by unbearable loneliness. Therefore, in spite of the lack of terminological connections, vv. 7a.8–9 and vv. 14–18 must be seen as related insofar as the self-cursing is supposed to intensify the prophetic complaint.