In Hebrew the pronoun thou (Good News Translation “you”) is in the emphatic position.

Knowest: For the meaning of the verb “know,” see 1.5.

Most translators retain thou seest me as “You see me.” But to help readers understand that here the sense is that the LORD sees and understands Jeremiah’s nature, Good News Translation has “You see what I do.”

Triest my mind toward thee: Triest translates the same verb rendered “assay” in 6.27, where there is also the combination “know … test.” One commentator suggests “have tested whether my heart is with you.” Translators could also use a term like “examine.” Mind is literally “heart” (see 11.20). A good way to render the second line is “You have observed me and tested my feelings for you.”

Pull them out may be rendered in a number of different ways: “Drag … away” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible), “Drag … off” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version), or “Separate them.” Them may also be “those people.”

Set them apart translates a verb that often means “make holy,” but the meaning here is that they should be kept in a guarded place until the time when they are put to death. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the last part of this verse as “Drag them off like sheep and get them ready for the slaughter!”

If possible, translators should retain the two parallel statements in the last two lines, since the second part gives a little more detail to the picture in the first:

• Pull those people out like sheep that are going to be killed.
Keep them ready for the time they will be slaughtered.

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 .