TWO KINGDOMS

Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Wrote from Babylon to the priests at Jerusalem asking why Jeremiah had not been reproved.

SCRIPTURE SAYS

“I sent him not” (Jeremiah 29:31)

ERA

Two kingdoms 930–586 BC

IN THE DAYS OF

Zedekiah

BOOK

None bears the name

HOW HE SPOKE

He “sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests”.

THE CALL

How he spoke

  • He “sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests”. The LORD's word says he “hath prophesied unto you”. Jeremiah 29:25 Jeremiah 29:31
  • From the textWhere the Hebrew and the King James Version have “Shemaiah the Nehelamite”, the Greek Septuagint has “Samæas the Ælamite” (Greek chapter 36:24, in Brenton's translation of 1844). Jeremiah 29:24 [1]

BEFORE THE KINGS

Before Zedekiah, king of Judah

KING OF JUDAH

Zedekiah, king of Judah

THE WORD GIVEN

What he prophesied

His letter against Jeremiah

“Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?”

Jeremiah 29:27 (KJV) →

“This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them”

Jeremiah 29:28 (KJV) →

THE WORD TO …

To whom the word was spoken

TO ALL THE CAPTIVITY, CONCERNING SHEMAIAH

“Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie”

Jeremiah 29:31 (KJV) →

  • Babylon · He wrote as one of the captives (“he sent unto us in Babylon”)

THE ANSWER GIVEN

The answer, and what came of it

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest

Jeremiah

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • Foretold: no man of his would dwell among the people, nor would he see the good to come. Jeremiah 29:32

TRADITION SAYS

No tradition is recorded here.

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 1

Jeremiah 29

PASSAGES · 1

Jeremiah 29:24–32

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • The text does not explain “Nehelamite”, and no place or family of that name appears elsewhere in Scripture.
  • Scripture does not say what Zephaniah did after reading the letter to Jeremiah, beyond reading it.
  • He is a different man from Shemaiah the man of God in Rehoboam's day (1 Kgs 12:22) and Shemaiah in Nehemiah 6:10.

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • L. C. L. Brenton (tr.), The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, translated into English (1844), Jeremiah in the Greek order: chs. 34:2 (Heb. 27:2, no verse 1), 35:1 (Heb. 28:1), 36:24 (Heb. 29:24), 46:1–18 (Heb. 39, verses 4–13 absent); read in the site's Brenton text (data/text/lxxe).
  • L. C. L. Brenton (tr.), The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament and Apocrypha (1851), the opening sentence of Lamentations (checked against the 1879 Bagster scan).
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (1891), pp. 239–240 (Jer 10:11), 248, 253–254 (the Greek text of Jeremiah), 298–299 (Obadiah), 314–315 (Nahum), 317–319 (Habakkuk, Zephaniah), 432–435 (Lamentations).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. D. Patrick, The Prophecies of Jeremiah, vol. 1 (Keil and Delitzsch) (1874), Introduction, pp. 31–35 (the Greek text; Graf 1862 quoted); scan of the 1880 printing.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Kennedy, The Prophecies of Jeremiah, vol. 2, with The Lamentations (Keil and Delitzsch) (1874), Introduction to Lamentations, pp. 349–350.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. D. Patrick, The Prophecies of Jeremiah (Keil and Delitzsch) (1874), note on Jer 25:11 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. D. Patrick, The Prophecies of Jeremiah (Keil and Delitzsch) (1874), note on Jer 27:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), note on Dan 9:2, reporting Ewald (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), Introduction to Obadiah (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), Introduction to Nahum, quoting Vitringa (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), Introduction to Habakkuk (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), Introduction to Zephaniah (read on Bible Hub).
  • G. C. Workman, The Text of Jeremiah (1889), pp. 117–118, 222–223.
  • A. W. Streane, The Double Text of Jeremiah (1896), p. 13.
  • A. W. Streane, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, together with the Lamentations (Cambridge Bible) (1881), p. 172 (note on 25:11).
  • A. W. Streane, Jeremiah and Lamentations (Cambridge Bible, revised edition) (1913), note on Jer 27:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • A. W. Streane, Jeremiah and Lamentations (Cambridge Bible, revised edition) (1913), introductory note to Jer 39, reporting Giesebrecht, Duhm and Cornill (read on Bible Hub).
  • A. S. Peake, Jeremiah and Lamentations, vol. 2 (The Century Bible) (1910), p. 13 (note on 25:11).
  • M. Faulhaber, "Jeremias", Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1910), the text of the book; the tradition of his death (online text).
  • M. G. Easton, Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), entry "Jeremiah, Book of" (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. von Orelli, "Jeremiah", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), his death (online text; not checked against a scan of the printed edition; read on Bible Hub).
  • R. S. Hess, Review of E. Tov, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research, 3rd ed. (2015), Denver Journal (facts only) (2017), on 4QJer b and 4QJer d and the shorter Greek edition.
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Jer 25:11 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Jer 27:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Jer 40:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Matt 27:9 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897), note on Jer 25:11 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897), note on Jer 40:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897), note on Zech 1:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on Jer 27:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament (1746–1748), note on Matt 27:9 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826), note on Matt 27:9 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible (1871), note on Matt 27:9, quoting John Lightfoot's Horae Hebraicae (read on Bible Hub).
  • Augustine, tr. S. D. F. Salmond, The Harmony of the Gospels (NPNF First Series, vol. 6) (1888), 3.7.29–31.
  • M. B. Riddle (ed.), Editor's note to Augustine, Harmony of the Gospels 3.7 (NPNF First Series, vol. 6) (1888), note 1344 in the CCEL text.
  • M. L. Rodkinson (tr.), New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud: Tract Baba Bathra (1902), pp. 44–45 (Baba Bathra 14b–15a: the order of the prophets; who wrote which books).
  • I. H. Hall (tr.), "The Lives of the Prophets", Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis 7 (1887), pp. 36–37 (Jeremiah), from a Syriac manuscript ascribed to Epiphanius of Cyprus.
  • Tertullian, tr. S. Thelwall, Scorpiace (ANF vol. 3) (1885), ch. 8.
  • Jerome, tr. W. H. Fremantle, Against Jovinianus (NPNF Second Series, vol. 6) (1893), 2.37.
  • J. Rendel Harris, The Rest of the Words of Baruch: A Christian Apocalypse of the Year 136 A.D. (1889), pp. 21, 24.
  • E. G. Hirsch, V. Ryssel, S. Schechter and L. Ginzberg, "Jeremiah", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 7 (1904), biblical data; in rabbinical literature (Seder Olam 26); the Christian legend.
  • M. Seligsohn, "Seder 'Olam Rabbah", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (1905), authorship; the dates it gives the prophets.
  • Jewish Encyclopedia, "Hezekiah", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 6 (1904), §2 (Zephaniah's ancestor; Ibn Ezra and Abravanel).
  • Origen, tr. F. Crombie, A Letter to Africanus (ANF vol. 4) (1885), sections 7–8.
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. 2 (The Expositor's Bible) (1898), pp. 41, 47 (Zephaniah), 78, 85 (Nahum), 167, 171 (Obadiah), 193 (Zechariah's seventy years).
  • A. B. Davidson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah (Cambridge Bible) (1896), pp. 12–13 (Elkosh; date of Nahum), 45–46, 49, 53 (Habakkuk), 96–97 (Zephaniah).
  • E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary (first published 1860–77; London printing of 1883) (1883), Introduction to Obadiah, pp. 227–229.
  • C. J. Gadd, The Fall of Nineveh: the newly discovered Babylonian Chronicle, No. 21,901, in the British Museum (1923), pp. 15–16, 40–41 (reverse, lines 38–45).
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 2 (1927), §§776–778, pp. 295–296 (the Rassam Cylinder on Ni', Thebes).
  • T. Witton Davies, in R. H. Charles (ed.), The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (1913), pp. 655–656 (Bel and the Dragon: date; verses 33–39).

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