| Sumario: | In this study, I suggest that the sayings in Jer 17:5-8, 9-10, and 11, usually regarded as independent fragments alien to their context, form a redacted unit that serves an important role in Jeremiah 11-20. Using a common scribal technique, all three passages quote wisdom texts that are reworked to fit their new context. These quotations serve as a source of authority to reestablish the validity of the retribution theory, in the face of specific challenges that arise in Jeremiah in general, and in the personal laments in particular. The extensive phraseological links between the unit and the personal laments, as well as its strategic location at the center of the cycle, evince an intentional and sophisticated literary structure. These findings shed new light on the exceptional character of the use of wisdom in this unit and open new directions in the study of the redaction history of Jeremiah 11-20.
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