The list of reasons why Jehoiakim is doomed continues. Good News Translation begins a new sentence here and repeats “Doomed.” Translators could also say “Woe also to the man who says” or “How terrible it will be for that man, because he also says.”

There is no way to determine precisely the size of a house described as great or the size of the upper rooms described as spacious. However, this verse describes more signs of luxury.

Cuts out windows for it: Windows would have functioned to let in air and light. The same noun appears in 9.21 (9.20 in Hebrew); it is also used of the windows in the boat built by Noah (Gen 8.6) and in the temple built by Solomon (1Kgs 6.4). Instead of cuts out windows for it, most translators use something such as “he builds it with large windows” or “he builds large windows for the house.”

Paneling can be expressed as “making the inside of the walls of wood boards” or “lining the walls with boards.”

Although most translations retain cedar, it is most probable that the wood used was fir or from some other evergreen tree with a trunk long enough for building. See verse 7 for cedar. Here translators can say either “wood of the cedar tree” or “very high quality wood.”

Painting it with vermilion: Vermilion refers to a red pigment used for paint. Good News Translation has “paints it red,” as does Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.

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 .