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Journey of a Passage

Jeremiah 6:13–15 and 8:10–12

"Peace, peace; when there is no peace": a passage the Greek has only once

"They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." The same three verses appear twice in the Masoretic Text, at 6:13–15 and again at 8:10b–12. The Old Greek has them only in chapter 6: in chapter 8 it moves from "their fields to them that shall inherit them" straight to the barren vine. This is one of the clearest examples of the longer Hebrew edition repeating material the shorter edition does not.

Read Jeremiah 6:13–15 and 8:10–12 in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The words as first spoken or writtenlate 7th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The words as first spoken or written
  3. Jeremiah 8:10–12 (Masoretic Text, the repetition)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The words as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Jeremiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Jeremiah (a shorter edition)
  2. Greek Jeremiah 8:10–12 (library's Giguet)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Jeremiah (a shorter edition)
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. late 7th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The words as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives, and Jeremiah circulated in at least two ancient Hebrew editions: a shorter one behind the Old Greek and the longer one preserved as the Masoretic Text. The oldest copies are six fragmentary Qumran manuscripts (2QJer, 4QJer-a to 4QJer-e), from about 200 BC to the 1st century AD.

  2. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    a minore quippe usque ad majorem omnes avaritiæ student, et a propheta usque ad sacerdotem cuncti faciunt dolum. Et curabant contritionem filiæ populi mei cum ignominia, dicentes: Pax, pax! et non erat pax. Confusi sunt, quia abominationem fecerunt: quin potius confusione non sunt confusi, et erubescere nescierunt. Quam ob rem cadent inter ruentes: in tempore visitationis suæ corruent, dicit Dominus.

    Latin numbering: Jeremiah 6:13–15. Jerome translated Jeremiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The words as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    כִּ֤י מִקְּטַנָּם֙ וְעַד־גְּדוֹלָ֔ם כֻּלּ֖וֹ בּוֹצֵ֣עַ בָּ֑צַע וּמִנָּבִיא֙ וְעַד־כֹּהֵ֔ן כֻּלּ֖וֹ עֹ֥שֶׂה שָּֽׁקֶר׃ וַֽיְרַפְּא֞וּ אֶת־שֶׁ֤בֶר עַמִּי֙ עַל־נְקַלָּ֔ה לֵאמֹ֖ר שָׁל֣וֹם ׀ שָׁל֑וֹם וְאֵ֖ין שָׁלֽוֹם׃ הֹבִ֕ישׁוּ כִּ֥י תוֹעֵבָ֖ה עָשׂ֑וּ גַּם־בּ֣וֹשׁ לֹֽא־יֵב֗וֹשׁוּ גַּם־הַכְלִים֙ לֹ֣א יָדָ֔עוּ לָכֵ֞ן יִפְּל֧וּ בַנֹּפְלִ֛ים בְּעֵת־פְּקַדְתִּ֥ים יִכָּשְׁל֖וּ אָמַ֥ר יְהוָֽה׃

    They heal the brokenness of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace (v. 14)

    Hebrew numbering: Jeremiah 6:13–15.

  4. AD 1008

    Jeremiah 8:10–12 (Masoretic Text, the repetition)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The words as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    לָכֵן֩ אֶתֵּ֨ן אֶת־נְשֵׁיהֶ֜ם לַאֲחֵרִ֗ים שְׂדֽוֹתֵיהֶם֙ לְי֣וֹרְשִׁ֔ים כִּ֤י מִקָּטֹן֙ וְעַד־גָּד֔וֹל כֻּלֹּ֖ה בֹּצֵ֣עַ בָּ֑צַע מִנָּבִיא֙ וְעַד־כֹּהֵ֔ן כֻּלֹּ֖ה עֹ֥שֶׂה שָּֽׁקֶר׃ וַיְרַפּ֞וּ אֶת־שֶׁ֤בֶר בַּת־עַמִּי֙ עַל־נְקַלָּ֔ה לֵאמֹ֖ר שָׁל֣וֹם ׀ שָׁל֑וֹם וְאֵ֖ין שָׁלֽוֹם׃ הֹבִ֕שׁוּ כִּ֥י תוֹעֵבָ֖ה עָשׂ֑וּ גַּם־בּ֣וֹשׁ לֹֽא־יֵבֹ֗שׁוּ וְהִכָּלֵם֙ לֹ֣א יָדָ֔עוּ לָכֵ֞ן יִפְּל֣וּ בַנֹּפְלִ֗ים בְּעֵ֧ת פְּקֻדָּתָ֛ם יִכָּשְׁל֖וּ אָמַ֥ר יְהוָֽה׃

    Therefore I will give their wives to others… from the least to the greatest every one is greedy… they have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace

    The Hebrew repeats 6:13–15 here.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.

  6. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Jeremiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Jeremiah (a shorter edition)

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Car, du petit au grand, ils ont commis des iniquités; depuis le prêtre jusqu’au faux prophète, ils ont fait des œuvres de mensonge. Ils pansaient les plaies de mon peuple, mais avec dédain, en lui disant: La paix, la paix! Et où est-elle la paix? Aussi ont-ils été confondus parce qu’ils ont failli. Et encore ils n’ont pas été confondus comme ceux qui le sont réellement; car leur confusion même ne les a pas confondus. Et à cause de cela ils tomberont, et ce sera leur ruine; et au temps de ma visite ils périront, dit le Seigneur.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Jeremiah 6:13–15. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only), in the Greek book's own order and verse numbering; a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Jeremiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

  7. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Jeremiah 8:10–12 (library's Giguet)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Jeremiah (a shorter edition)

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    À cause de cela, je donnerai leurs femmes à d’autres, et leurs champs à des héritiers étrangers, 12. et 13. Qui en recueilleront les fruits, dit le Seigneur; il n’y aura pas de raisins dans leurs vignes, pas de figues sur leurs figuiers, et les feuilles en tomberont.

    The Greek moves from v. 10a directly to the vine and fig of v. 13; the repetition is absent. Giguet's numbering slots show this.

What changed, and why

Classification: a difference of literary edition: the Masoretic Text repeats 6:13–15 at 8:10b–12; the Old Greek lacks the repetition.

Many scholars think the repetition was added in the longer edition; others think the Greek translator or its Hebrew source dropped a duplicate. The shorter text is not simply a defective copy: duplicates are a known feature of the longer edition (compare 10:12–16 and 51:15–19).

"Peace, peace" (shalom shalom) is the false prophets' reassurance; Ezekiel 13:10 and 1 Thessalonians 5:3 use similar words.

What the evidence shows

  • What the text saysThe Masoretic Text has 6:13–15 again at 8:10b–12.
  • Strongly supportedThe Old Greek lacks 8:10b–12. Giguet's file has no text at 8:12; C check against Ziegler.
  • Plausible, not confirmedThe repetition is a later addition in the longer edition.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Jeremiah 6: Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace →"Flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north" (6:1). Shepherds pitch tents around Zion; "hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem" (vv. 2–8). Glean Israel like a vine; their ears are uncircumcised; I am full of the LORD's fury (vv. 9–12). "From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness… They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace" (vv. 13–15). "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein" (v. 16). Incense from Sheba is not acceptable (v. 20). A cruel people from the north (vv. 22–26). Jeremiah as an assayer: the refining fails; "Reprobate silver shall men call them" (vv. 27–30).
    • Jeremiah 8: Is There No Balm in Gilead? →The bones of kings, princes, priests, prophets and people will be dragged from their graves and spread before the sun and moon they served (8:1–3). "Shall they fall, and not arise?"; people turn away and do not return, like a horse rushing into battle (vv. 4–6). "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times… but my people know not the judgment of the LORD" (v. 7). "How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo… the pen of the scribes is in vain" (vv. 8–9). Wives and fields to others; "Peace, peace" again (vv. 10–12, a passage the Greek lacks). No grapes on the vine; poisoned water; snorting from Dan (vv. 13–17). "When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me… The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved… Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?" (vv. 18–22).
    • Investigation: Two Ancient Jeremiahs →The Jeremiah in most Bibles follows the Masoretic Text. The Greek translation made by Jews in the last centuries BC is shorter, by roughly an eighth to a sixth depending on how it is counted, and arranges part of the book differently: the oracles against the nations, chapters 46–51 in the Hebrew, stand in the Greek after 25:13, in another order. For centuries many readers assumed the translator had abbreviated. The Dead Sea Scrolls changed the question: Hebrew fragments of Jeremiah from Qumran include copies of the longer text and at least one copy reconstructed with the shorter text's form. Jeremiah existed in more than one Hebrew edition at the same time. This investigation sets out the evidence, the leading explanations, and what the two editions show about how biblical books grew and were transmitted.