Raise a shout against her round about is a reference to the battle cry: “Raise the war cry all around the city!” (Good News Translation). Round about means “all around her.”

She has surrendered represents the Hebrew idiom, “she has given her hand.” Translators can also use an idiom or expression that has the meaning of surrender.

Her bulwarks have fallen, her walls are thrown down: Bulwarks translates a word occurring only here in the Old Testament, and its meaning is not clear. Revised English Bible, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible each have “bastions,” while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, and New International Version have “towers.” Obviously it refers to some kind of fortification. Good News Translation notes that the meaning of this word is unclear and renders it as the equivalent of walls: “Its walls have been broken through and torn down.” Or translators can say something like “The attackers have broken down the fortifications and the walls.”

For this is the vengeance … do to her as she has done: Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “The Lord himself will take revenge on this city, so give it to her and treat her as she has treated others!” Other examples that are quite close to the text are “The LORD takes his revenge on these people by doing to them what they did to others” and “The LORD’s revenge on these people is this: he makes their enemies do to them what they used to do to others.”

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 .