The verse begins It is he who made, without naming the LORD. However, many translators will follow the lead of Good News Translation (“The LORD made”) or say “It was the LORD who made.”

Power translates a word frequently used in the Old Testament; it may also mean “strength.”

The verbs made and established (literally “made firm”) are used in essentially the same way, as are the nouns earth and world (compare Psa 90.2). Similarly wisdom (see 8.9) parallels understanding (elsewhere only in 51.15). To retain some distinction between the words, however, established is sometimes rendered as “established firmly,” and understanding is translated by “knowledge” (so Revised English Bible).

Stretched out the heavens reflects the ancient Hebrew belief that the heavens (better “the sky”) were stretched above the earth in the form of a tent. It is quite possible that this imagery may be maintained in other languages, especially if this section is restructured as poetry.

Some translators have compressed these lines somewhat, as in “It is the LORD who created the earth by his power and wisdom.” However, part of the poetic effect of the verse is achieved through the three sets of three terms: made, established, and stretched out; earth, world, and heavens; power, wisdom, and understanding. Some commentators have suggested that in this verse the earth actually refers to the underworld, so that there is a progression from the underworld to the earth to the heavens. It would probably not be warranted to put “underworld” in the translation, but something of the progression can be expressed, as for example in “But it was God who made the earth by his power, who with his wisdom established the world firmly, and who stretched out the sky [or, put the sky in place] with his skill.”

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 .