Therefore thus says the LORD: See 2.2. Here it is expressed briefly by Good News Translation: “The LORD says.”

In place of among the nations, Good News Translation has “every nation,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar.

The like of this is followed by a general statement (The virgin … horrible thing), and then what this means is spelled out in verses 15-16a. The problem faced by the reader (especially the hearer) is that the connection may not be immediately and easily made. We may translate the last part of this verse, for example, “Ask all the nations if they have ever heard of a nation doing such a horrible thing as Israel has done?”

The virgin Israel has often been treated as parallel to “virgin daughter of my people” in 14.17. This is then seen as merely a fond way of speaking of the nation. However, one commentator has recently suggested that both in Jeremiah and in Amos, the only prophetic books in which the expression occurs, it is best understood as a reference to the capital city, Jerusalem. It is not a term of endearment at all, but a common way of using feminine imagery to speak of cities. Verses 13-17 are seen as references to the destruction of Jerusalem. Translators who accept this interpretation could say “Jerusalem, the virgin of Israel” or “the virgin city of Israel.” Other possibilities are “Jerusalem, the unspoiled daughter of Israel” or “the pure city of Israel.”

Horrible thing translates a noun found only here and in Hos 6.10.

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 .