The host of heaven: Most translations are literal, but Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Bible en français courant have “the stars in the sky.” New Jerusalem Bible has “the array of heaven,” which may be somewhat difficult for the average reader of English. The reference is certainly to the stars, not to angels or any kind of heavenly beings. See 8.2.

The sands of the sea is most naturally “grains of sand on the seashore,” as Good News Translation translates it. See 15.8.

Cannot be numbered … cannot be measured: An active construction may be used, “just as no one can count … measure….” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “As numerous … as immeasurable….”

The restructuring of Good News Translation for the whole verse is a good model: “I will increase … so that it will be as impossible to count….”

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 .