This verse contains two more rhetorical questions, the first of which demands a negative answer and the second a positive answer. Both Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch transform the first question into a strong statement: “No one can hide where I cannot see them” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch also does the same thing with the second question: “There is no place in heaven or on earth where I am not present!”

The repetition of says the LORD twice in this verse (and once in verse 23) will probably make reading difficult. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch resolves the difficulty by introducing verses 23-24 (which it makes a single unit) with the statement, “The Lord says….” Translators can also consider beginning verse 23 with “Listen to what the LORD says,” and concluding verse 24 with “This is the word from the LORD.”

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 .