For behold see 1.6.

I will surely lift you up: In Hebrew the pronoun I is emphatic. Surely (Good News Translation “certainly”) represents lift being repeated in the Hebrew, which is a way of making the verb emphatic. Lift … up does have manuscript support, and it is the form of the text supported by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. As the Good News Translation note indicates, the verb lift … up comes from the same root as the Hebrew word for “message” and “burden.” Thus there is a continuing wordplay. Some translators try to retain the wordplay with “I will certainly pick you up like a burden.” This may make the sentence more awkward than retaining the pun is worth, however.

Cast you away: “Throw … away” (Good News Translation) fits the imagery of “pick you up,” and is therefore the usual translation (see verse 33).

As for the city which I gave you and your fathers, it is sometimes more natural to make this a separate sentence; for example, “I will do the same thing to [or, also throw far from me] the city I gave you and your ancestors.”

As we indicated at verse 38, this verse is a continuation of that sentence. Translators might say this:

• because of that I will certainly lift you up and throw you far from me, you and also the city I gave you and your ancestors.

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 .