Just now translates a preposition plus an adverb which may more literally be rendered “from now.” Most translations have no difficulty seeing in this form the meaning “now” or “just now.” However, some scholars prefer to make a slight change in the Hebrew so that it reads “Even then” (Jerusalem Bible) or “Even under these circumstances.” This is not a widely accepted solution, and it lacks support in the manuscripts.

My father: See 2.27.

The friend of my youth may more naturally be expressed as either “you have loved me ever since I was a child” (Good News Translation) or “as long as I have lived, you have loved me” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

The verse quite often needs to be restructured, making the question a sentence, for example, as Good News Translation has done. Also, translators have not always made it clear how this verse relates to the previous one. Possible translations include:

• You are so brazen you now call me father, the one who loved you as a child.

• Yes, you are so lacking in embarrassment you now call upon me for help. You say “You are my father, you loved me when I was young.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .