Prepare yourselves baggage for exile may be rendered “Get ready to be taken prisoner” (Good News Translation). For exile see the comments on “captivity” in 1.3.

Inhabitants of Egypt is literally “inhabitants of the daughter of Egypt.” However, as previously indicated (verse 11), the use of “virgin daughter” or “daughter” is a traditional way of indicating the inhabitants of a nation, city, or community. Most versions render this as “people of Egypt” or “Egyptians.”

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders the first part of the verse “Pack up your bags, you Egyptians, you are going into exile!” Some languages will require that the sentence begins with the people addressed: “You people of Egypt, pack your bags, for you are going into exile.”

Memphis: See 2.16.

A waste: See 2.15.

A ruin: In Hebrew this is a verb (“she will be ruined”); a literal meaning is “she will be kindled” or “she will be set on fire.” See 2.15.

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 .