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    Paul A Kruger, «A Woman Will 'Encompass' a Man: On Gender Reversal in Jer 31,22b», Vol. 89 (2008) 380-388

    This contribution reviews the various interpretations offered to understand the obscure pronouncement in Jer 31,22b: “A woman will encompass a man”. One of the most popular proposals, which is also the most plausible, is to regard the utterance as an example of gender role reversal. What the proponents of this viewpoint fail to demonstrate satisfactorily, however, is how this saying in Jer 31,22b relates to the multiple other ancient Near Eastern cultural contexts (literary, social-political and religious) where the same mundus inversus principle is likewise attested. It is argued that this broad backdrop is a sine qua non for the proper understanding of this enigmatic passage.

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    A Woman Will “Encompass” a Man: On Gender Reversal in Jer 31,22b The pronouncement “a woman will encompass a man” (rbg bbwst hbqn) in Jer 31,22b has always been a crux interpretum for Hebrew Bible interpreters. It has been described as “a proverb whose original meaning eludes present generations” (1), “enigmatic” (2), “incurably obscure or unintelligible” (3), “ein ungelöstes RĂ€tsel” (4). Yet it is not only modern interpreters who have been puzzled by this statement; apparently even the ancient versions experienced problems in making sense of this saying. The different ancient texts rendered v. 22b as follows: MT: rb,GĂȘ: bb/sT] hb;qen“ ≈r