How the famous city is forsaken, the joyful city! Hebrew Old Testament Text Project proposes following the Hebrew (see the Revised Standard Version notes) with the meaning “Why has the city of my praise, the town of my joy, not been evacuated?” But they do not explain why the city is referred to as the city of God’s joy. In this regard, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes sense: “Damascus, the famous city, which was my friend….” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible renders “the city which made me happy” with a note, “It is impossible to see how Damascus could be the joy of the LORD. Perhaps read with the ancient versions: the joyous city.” One translation that has tried to make sense of the Hebrew is Contemporary English Version: “I once was pleased with your famous city. But now I warn you, ‘Escape while you still can!’ ”

The versions quoted above all assume that God is the speaker in this verse, even though, as the Traduction œcuménique de la Bible note says, it is very hard to make sense of that. But there are other places in these messages to the nations (chapters 46–51) where exclamations like this are the words of fear or surprise or agony or horror spoken by people experiencing God’s judgment—and this verse may well be in that category. R.K. Harrison, for instance, says, “The remark about the celebrated city (25) is put into the mouth of a citizen of Damascus”. A model that follows this possibility is, for example, “They [the people] say to each other, ‘The famous city that used to make us happy is desolate now!’ ”

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders is forsaken with the meaning “surrendered without a battle.” However, most translate this as “is deserted” (so Good News Translation) or “has been abandoned.” But note “Escape” in the Contemporary English Version example above.

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 .