Neighbor and brother are used as parallel constructions, as are the two questions What has the LORD answered? and What has the LORD spoken? Good News Translation translates neighbor … brother as “friends … relatives.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the first part of the verse as “Instead of this each one of you must ask one another….” Bible en français courant is similar to Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Most translations retain both forms of the question.

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 .