Thus says the LORD: See the comment above, and 2.2.

Translators must be careful that they do not render Learn not with the words that might be used for learning a subject or how to do something. The sense in this verse is that the people of Israel must not start doing what the other nations are doing. Hence Good News Translation has “Do not follow the ways of other nations.”

The way of the nations (Good News Translation “the ways of other nations”) refers to the religious customs and practices of foreign nations. This becomes clear in what follows.

The verb dismayed occurs twice in the verse (rendered “disturbed” and “terrified” by Good News Translation) and translates a Hebrew verb first used in 1.17.

The signs of the heavens refers to such things as comets, meteors, and eclipses, reflecting the Babylonian love of astrology (studying the stars and their movements). Good News Translation renders this “unusual sights in the sky,” and others have “strange things you see in the sky.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the whole verse as follows: “Do not follow the example of other nations! They may shudder before unusual events in the sky, but you must not!” Another way to express the meaning is “Don’t be like other nations and be terrified by strange things you see in the sky.”

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 .