Nebuchadrezzar: Elsewhere Good News Translation uses the better known name “Nebuchadnezzar” (see 21.2). Here it omits the name, since it regards the title king of Babylonia quite sufficient to identify the person.

Has devoured me: Devoured is literally “ate.” It is often used to represent killing (see 8.16). Me is a reference to Jerusalem (verse 35), and so both Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch make this identification in the text. Bible en français courant, on the other hand, does not put “Jerusalem” in the text, but gives it in parentheses under the section heading. Although New International Version does not identify the people of Jerusalem as the persons who are speaking in verse 34, the translators have chosen to translate me as “us,” which would give at least a clue to the reader that more than a single individual is intended.

The precise meaning of the verb rendered crushed is a problem. Normally it means “confused” or “throwing to commotion.” The Septuagint has “divide,” which may possibly mean either “cut up” (Good News Translation) or “chewed up.” Both New Jerusalem Bible and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible have a verb that means “consumed,” while Bible en français courant has the equivalent of “crushed.” New American Bible renders “routed,” which seems to be an attempt to reflect the usual meaning of the Hebrew verb. Others have the sense of “sucked me dry,” and this certainly fits with the imagery of the rest of the sentence. In fact, one way to render the verse is:

• The king of Babylonia has swallowed me and sucked me dry. He emptied me like an empty jar; like a monster, he swallowed me, filled his belly with my tastiest parts, and spat out the rest.

Made me an empty vessel; that is, “he emptied me [the city] like someone empties out a jar.”

He has swallowed me like a monster: In place of monster, some translations prefer “dragon” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New American Bible). Note that Revised Standard Version is somewhat ambiguous here: it is not me that is a monster, but he; that is, “like a monster he swallowed me up.”

My delicacies would be the most tasty parts. Good News Translation has “what he wanted,” while New Jerusalem Bible (“my titbits”) and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible (“my marrow”) are much more picturesque.

Rinsed me out fits with the picture of the empty jar. While making a slight change in the vowels of the Hebrew verb, we may render “threw me out” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “spewed me up” (Revised English Bible). If we accept that the verb is connected with the imagery of the empty vessel, then it would seem best in translation to restructure by placing these two lines together and then describe the activity of the devouring monster in a logical arrangement; that is, translators can say something like “He emptied me like a jar, and rinsed me out. Like a monster he swallowed me up, and filled his belly with my tastiest parts.” But see the other examples above, too.

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 .