Jeremiah’s 70-Year Prophecy 517 to support Jeremiah’s directive to “build houses” in their new land as a way to sustain a distinctively Judean communal life in their new environment (52). The invocation of the Esarhaddon text a few verses later (Jer 29,10) legitimizes this adaptation of the Deuteronomic law, suggesting that like Esarhaddon, the deportees should recognize the divine favor bestowed upon Babylon and build in accordance with divine will. The Esarhaddon reference comprises part of the argument formed by Jeremiah against contemporaneous prophets who proclaimed that YHWH would soon end the captivity and that Judah would be restored to its glory. It was against this delusional perspective that Jeremiah contended, and he was apparently castigated for his views (cf. Jer 27,9-10.14-22; Jer 28,2-4; 29,8-9.21.24-32). It is notable that these prophets predicted the restoration of the sacred vessels to the Temple. Jeremiah’s command to “build houses” in 29,10 may suggest that these houses will replace the composite “house” in Jerusalem (both the Davidic lineage and the Temple) to which the false prophets refer (53). Indeed, the ascription of the term rqç (falsehood) to these prophets binds them to Jeremiah’s earlier (52) BERLIN, “Jeremiah 29,5-7”, 4, suggests that the application of the Deuteronomic law here argues against any potential insurrection among the captives in Babylon, though it also establishes continuity with covenantal existence through what would have for the 597 community been viewed as the national constitution (the Deuteronomic Torah). (53) Several elements suggest that Jeremiah’s use of the “house” terminology in this passage constitutes a suggested alternative to faith in the Davidic house. Berlin’s view of the Jeremianic passage (see the note above) makes clear that public sentiment was, at least to some level, directed by hope for the return to power of the Davidic royal house. This sentiment persevered for some time during the exile (see J.D. LEVENSON, “The Last Four Verses in Kings”, JBL 103 [1984] 353-361), and was one that Jeremiah’s prophetic adversaries clearly advocated. Jeremiah had declared the covenantal illegitimacy of Davidic cultic institutions as early as his Temple Sermon (see above, and the ensuing discussion) as well as the political and religious affiliates of the royal house such as prophets, priests and wise men (cf. especially Jer 8,9-12). In Jer 26 the criticism of these figures reaches a crescendo within the book of Jeremiah by pitting the prophetic tradition in which Jeremiah stood against the accoutrements of the Davidic lineage and Temple, presenting both as genetically related through a linguistic subtlety that establishes their unity (the phrase hwhy tyb ˚lmh tybm wl[yw of Jer 26,10). Though Jer 26 is the work of a later scribal hand, the chapter telescopes elements from Jeremiah’s own writing and translates them into narrative form (see LEUCHTER, Jeremiah, 222-234). It is thus not surprising that Jer 26 introduces the body of Jeremianic literature in which the 70-year prophecy first appeared (in terms of composition history), as both literary units are concerned with questions concerning the Davidic “house” in its manifold forms.