Worthless translates the same word first used in 2.5; it is the same word that Revised Standard Version renders “false” in verse 3 and “idols” in verse 8.

Delusion appears in the Old Testament only here and in 51.18. A number of translations interpret it here as “mockery;” New International Version, for example, has “the objects of mockery.” In Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch this first clause is translated as a complete sentence: “They are worthless images, to be made fun of.” Luther 1984 links the clause with the last part of verse 14: “… since their gods are a delusion and have no life, 15 they are nothing, a caricature….”

At the time of their punishment assumes that the LORD is the one who does the punishing: “At the time that the LORD punishes them” or “When the Lord holds judgment” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Good News Translation inverts the order of at the time of their punishment they shall perish: “they will be destroyed when the LORD comes to deal with them.”

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 .