This verse raises the question of who is speaking. Scholarly opinion is divided between (1) the people of Judah, (2) the party favorable to Jehoiachin, or (3) Jeremiah himself. Good News Translation identifies the speaker as Jeremiah (“I said”), while Bible en français courant uses an impersonal construction (“Someone says”). This interpretation fits better in the context. Translators can also say “People say.”

Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for?: In place of Coniah, Good News Translation continues to use the more familiar “Jehoiachin” (see verse 24). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch phrases the rhetorical question to read “Is this Jehoiachin actually so worthless as a broken jar, which no one will have?” Another possibility is “Why are you treating this man Jehoiachin like a worthless broken pot that no one wants?” In some languages the way to express it would be “You are treating this Jehoiachin like a worthless broken pot that no one wants. Why? [or, Do you despise him so much?].”

His children is literally “his seed,” a common way of referring to a person’s offspring in Hebrew.

Hurled (see verse 26) and cast have essentially the same meaning, “thrown out.” Good News Translation represents the two verbs by “taken into exile.”

Into a land which they do not know: See 15.14.

The second rhetorical question can also be handled in several different ways; for example, “Why are you throwing him and his children into exile in a country they don’t know?” or “You are throwing him and his children into exile in an unknown land. Why is that?”

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 .