Will turn from their stubbornness and their wicked deeds is literally “they will return from their stiff back and from their wicked deeds.” The emphasis is really more on repenting of their stubbornness and evil deeds than on stopping being stubborn and wicked, as Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version express it. Effective repentance means stopping, of course, but the writer’s statement concerns the repentance. Good News Translation is not missing the point, but shifting the focus a bit. The particular wording of Good News Translation, “You will stop being so stubborn and wicked,” somehow suggests that it is all right if they are a little bit stubborn and wicked, which is certainly not right. “You will give up your stubborn attitude and evil behavior” is closer to the sense.

They will remember the ways of their fathers, who sinned before the Lord: At this point New Jerusalem Bible has an interesting restructuring, which can be recommended. For the whole verse it reads “they will stop being obstinate and, remembering what became of their ancestors who sinned before the Lord, will turn from their evil deeds.” New Jerusalem Bible moves forward the clause about remembering the ancestors, and makes the repentance from evil the logical consequence of it. This could be expressed as follows:

• They will give up their stubborn attitude. They will remember what happened to their ancestors when they sinned against me, and stop doing evil.

The first sentence could be included as part of the previous verse by saying “ There in the land of their exile they will praise me. Once again they will call upon me as their God, and give up their stubborn attitude….”

Here, as usual when Revised Standard Version has fathers, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have “ancestors.” This is one of those few places where the writer may actually be thinking particularly of the previous generation, whose sin finally provoked God to the decisive punishment of exile. “Ancestors” is probably the safest translation, particularly in view of the mention of the patriarchs in the next verse. Still, compare Bar 3.4, where the idea that the exiles are suffering for the misdeeds of the past generation is clearer.

Who sinned before the Lord may be translated “who did things that I considered evil.” Those who are following Good News Translation closely should note that in this clause, Good News Translation slips and refers to the Lord in the third person, even though he is speaking. Good News Translation carefully avoided this in verse 22. Since God so often uses the first person pronoun in this passage (verses 29-35), it is best to use it here, as Contemporary English Version does with “when they sinned against me.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.