The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah is more literally “which was the word of the LORD to Jeremiah.” Elsewhere this unusual formula is found only in 46.1; 47.1; 49.34; it is equivalent in meaning to “The LORD said to me” (Good News Translation). In Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch this verse is translated “Here is written what the Lord said to Jeremiah on the occasion of the drought.”

Concerning the drought: It is unfortunately a fact of this world that droughts occur at one time or another almost everywhere. However, for those areas where there is no word for this natural catastrophe, translators can say something like “a prolonged period of dryness.”

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 .