Profaned this place: Good News Translation renders profaned as “defiled.” This could also be rendered as “treated with contempt” or “made it unworthy.” However, another way to understand the Hebrew is as “alien.” Thus Revised English Bible has “made this a place of alien worship,” New International Version “made this a place of foreign gods,” and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “[they have] alienated this place.” Translators who follow this interpretation could also say “made this place foreign [to me].”

Burning incense may be rendered “offering sacrifices” (Good News Translation); see 1.16.

Neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known: The expression probably means “neither … nor … nor … have known anything about” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the clause as follows: “Of these gods have they earlier known nothing, neither their ancestors nor the kings of Judah.” See 9.16; 16.13.

It is often helpful to break the first sentence into two, as in “The people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by burning incense to worship other gods. They don’t even know anything about these gods, and nor did their ancestors or the kings of Judah” or “… to worship other gods. And these are gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known anything about.”

They have filled this place with the blood of innocents: The reference to innocents is not to children, but to “innocent people” (Good News Translation; so also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Therefore this clause can be “They have also shed the blood of innocent people here.”

Because … because …: It may be good to make it clear that the LORD is going to bring disaster for several reasons: the people have abandoned him; they have defiled (or, made alien) this place; they have shed the blood of innocent people there; and (verse 5) they have built altars for Baal to sacrifice their children. The verse begins with Because, which Good News Translation relates to the previous verse: “I am going to do this because….” This is quite legitimate because the disasters the LORD promises from verse 6 on are really just the details of “such evil” back in verse 3. However, it is sometimes necessary to express cause and effect in a slightly different way; for example, by translating verses 4-6 as follows:

• 4 The people have abandoned me and defiled this place by burning incense as sacrifices to gods that they or their ancestors or the kings of Judah don’t even know. They have shed the blood of innocent people here, 5 and have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children as sacrifices. 6 This is not something I commanded them to do. It never even entered my mind. Because they have done all this, the time is coming when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom’s Son Valley; people will call it Slaughter Valley.

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 .