Verses 10-13 function similarly to 5.18-19 and 9.12-16 in that they provide an explanation for the Babylonian exile.

In this verse the LORD is saying what the people will say; that is, it is a direct quote in a direct quote. Good News Translation makes it easier for most readers to follow by putting the questions of the people in indirect speech.

The term rendered evil here is first used in 1.14. It has a wide range of meaning, and so Good News Translation translates Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? as “they will ask you why I have decided to punish them so harshly.” Other ways to say it are “Why has the LORD decided that this great disaster is going to happen to us?” and “Why has the LORD decided to do this terrible thing to us?” The use of “them” in Good News Translation results from the shift to indirect discourse.

The term iniquity is first used in 2.22, where Revised Standard Version translates “guilt.” It can also be “sin” or, as Good News Translation has, “crime.”

What is the sin that we have committed is more literally “What is the sin that we have sinned.” The noun rendered sin is first used in 5.25, where it appears in parallel with the noun here rendered iniquity.

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 .