Metaphorical Shifts in the Oracle against Babylon (Jeremiah 50-51)

In this article, the author studies the question how pastoral metaphors shape or construct the argumentative development and the internal structure of the Oracle against Babylon (Jer 50-51). Methodologically, the article draws on the insights provided by the cognitive linguistic approach to metaphor stating that metaphor is not merely a literary ornament, but rather a fundamental way in which people think. On the basis of these insights, the pastoral metaphors occurring in Jer 50,6-7; 8; 11-13; 17-18; 19-20; 44-45 and 51,38-40 are subjected to close scrutiny. It is shown that these metaphors display a strong internal development, challenging the view that the Oracle is an ongoing repetition of the same ideas. Moreover, the pastoral metaphors occur at structurally important positions in the Oracle, thus contributing to its overall architecture, and they provide important thematic links to other crucial texts in the book, e.g. Jer 25. Finally, the close analysis of the pastoral metaphors in Jer 50-51 has shed a new light on a number of the text's interpretational problems, for which new solutions were consequently proposed. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.