of direct address to the people, and may have been drawn from the prophet’s publicly declared oracles. Verse 7 may indeed be the nucleus around which this dialogue has grown, although as we shall see, the dialogue has the form of a closely knit literary unit. The structure of the dialogue may be set out as follows. i. The Lord’s word to Jeremiah (vv 1–2). ii. The prophet’s response (vv 3–6). iii. The Lord’s word: a. Quotation from public oracle (v 7). b. Response to Jeremiah (vv 8–9). The parts