115 WHY ARE THE SINS OF EPHRAIM AND JOB BUNDLED? idence gathering procedures. The new biblical parallel occurs in the story about the promulgation of Jeremiah’s scroll (Jer 36). There, after the of- ficers hear the scroll from Baruch and question him about its composition, they proceed to report the matter to the king. On their way, they “deposit” (wdqph) the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe (36,20) 34. The purpose of this action, although not explicitly stated, seems to be to en- sure the availability of the physical evidence in support of the charge that they are about to make. As the story continues, their action turns out to be warranted; when the king hears their report, he sends Yehudi to retrieve the scroll itself, which Yehudi then reads aloud before the king (36,21). Because the text does not say how the officers handled Jeremiah’s scroll before depositing it with Elishama, the story cannot explain the more spe- cific image of binding and sealing sins in a bundle. Nevertheless, the story of Jeremiah’s scroll attests to human adjudicators’ general concern with the preservation of evidence. Hos 13,12 and Job 14,17 show that God, as judge, shares these concerns. * * * In sum, and in answer to the question posed by this article’s title, the sins of Ephraim and Job are bundled in order to preserve them as evi- dence. In the divine court of justice, even God must have the evidence to prove His case. By tying and sealing sins, God’s actions reflect analogous procedures attested in the human courtrooms of Mesopotamia. God, who is known to keep sins in memory, bundles the sins in a sealed package that is carefully stored for the time of judgment. Yeshiva University Shalom E. HOLTZ 544 Belfer Hall 2495 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10033 SUMMARY Hos 13,12 and Job 14,17 describe sins as tied in a bundle. Since other verses imply that sins serve as God’s own evidence against sinners, the com- mon image in these two verses is best explained in light of evidence preser- vation procedures attested in Neo-Babylonian legal texts. 34 For the verb’s connotation of safekeeping, compare Isa 10,28 and Jer 37,21. Also compare the use of the Akkadian verb paqādu in YOS 7, 88, dis- cussed earlier.