It refers to the message from the LORD in verse 2. Some translators will render this “The LORD spoke to Jeremiah” or “Jeremiah also received a message from the LORD in the days….” It came also … until the end of is expressed in Good News Translation by “After that, the LORD spoke to him many times, until….”

Jehoiakim the son of Josiah reigned 609-598 B.C. He was succeeded by Zedekiah who reigned 598-587 B.C. In the eleventh year of his reign (587 B.C.) Jerusalem and the entire country of Judah fell to the Babylonian army. Although Jeremiah indicates that this was the end of his prophetic ministry, he did exercise his calling during the years immediately following the fall of Jerusalem (40.7–44.30). However, it was this event that really was the climax of his ministry.

The captivity of Jerusalem refers to when the people of Jerusalem were defeated and led away to exile in another country. This reflects the custom of transporting the people of captured nations into foreign lands where they would be less likely to rebel against their conquerors. The expression is rendered as a complete statement by both Good News Translation (“the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile”) and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were led into exile”). In some languages the fact that they were defeated has to be made clear, as in “conquered and forced to go into exile.”

In the fifth month does not mean that Jeremiah continued to receive messages from the LORD until the people had been held in captivity five months. It means that the people were carried away in the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign.

Having until twice in this verse may not be very natural. One way to render the verse would be:

• Jeremiah also received messages from the LORD during the time when Josiah’s son Jehoiakim was king of Judah and when his son Zedekiah ruled, up to the eleventh year that he was king and the time when in the fifth month of that year the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile.

In order to make a link between verses 1-3, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates: “1 In this book is written what Jeremiah said and did … 2 The Lord spoke to him for the first time … 3 But this book also contains what the Lord later said to Jeremiah….” Many translators will find this approach helpful in their translations.

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 .