Why Jeremiah is Not Among the Prophets: An Analysis of the terms nabi’ and nebi’im in the Book of Jeremiah

This analysis of the terms nabi’ and nebi’im in the book of Jeremiah, based on Jeremiah LXX and MT, challenges the view that the historical Jeremiah was a classical prophet of judgment. Historically speaking, Jeremiah acted as a prophet ‘pro society’. After 586 BCE, however, a tradition complex developed portraying Jeremiah as a figure ‘contra society’. Jeremiah, depicted as YHWH’s single mouthpiece, was deliberately not called a nabi’ in order to distinguish him from the nebi’im, ‘the prophets’ (in general!), portrayed as deceivers of the people. This image of Jeremiah dominated the Jeremiah corpus in the exilic period. Later texts introduced quite another image of the nebi’im, that of faithful servants of YHWH warning the people, and a still later edition of the book presented Jeremiah as ‘prophet to the nations’. The drawing of a distinction of these different prophetic profiles leads to the conclusion that Jeremiah was not among the classical prophets.