The Seventy-Year Punishment: The next oracle begins like many others. After dating it to the fourth year of Jehoiakim, it proceeds to condemn the people of God for not obeying the Lord, particularly in the matter of their worship of other gods. After rehearsing their sin, the oracle pronounces their punishment: destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Many of the themes of this textual unit are found earlier in Jeremiah. Indeed, this section may well be seen as a grand summary statement of what has gone before.

Though the broad outlines of this oracle are so far well-known from previous ones, a new twist comes at the end. Here Jeremiah looks beyond the punishment of his people. After “seventy years,” God will punish the tool of his vengeance, the Babylonians themselves. I…