Hark (see “Behold” in 1.6) is an attention-getter, which Good News Translation represents as “Listen!” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch does not find it appropriate to represent this by an exclamation; instead it allows for the context to convey the impact of the word.
The cry is literally “the voice of the cry.” The noun used here for cry means “cry for help.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I hear my people cry out in despair.”
The daughter of my people: See 4.11.
From the length and breadth of the land means “throughout the land” (Good News Translation) or “from all over the land.”
The two lines that follow, which give the cry of the people, may be introduced by “They say.” The first two lines are often restructured, as for example, “Listen. Throughout the land you can hear my people crying out and saying….”
The two negative rhetorical questions (Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her king not in her?) may be more effective as strong statements: “The LORD has surely abandoned the city of Jerusalem! Our king is no longer with us!” Or, we may substitute a positive question form: “Has the LORD abandoned Zion? Has her King rejected her?” For Jerusalem as the equivalent of Zion, see 3.14.
Why have they provoked me…? is the response of the LORD to the questions raised by his people. Both Good News Translation “The LORD, their king, replies” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “But the Lord answered” make this shift clear, though most modern translations fail to do so.
This is the first occurrence of the noun translated graven images (Good News Translation “idols”) in Jeremiah; elsewhere it is found in 50.38; 51.47, 52. The idols may have been made of stone, clay, wood, or metal.
Good News Translation makes it clear that provoking the LORD with their graven images means provoking him by worshiping them. Translators can say something like “Why have they made me angry by worshiping idols they have made and foreign gods?” or “By making idols and worshiping foreign gods these people have made me angry. Why have they done this?”
Foreign idols: The word translated idols first occurs in 2.5; see the comment there, where it is rendered “worthlessness.”
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 .