Concerning the prophets: See the note on the heading above. In addition to the Good News Translation solution, or in place of it, translators can also begin this verse with “Here is what the LORD says about the prophets” or “These words are about the prophets.” For prophets refer to 1.5.
My heart is broken within me is representative of what most modern versions have done. However, this may convey the wrong impression, since in Hebrew thought the heart was not the seat of the emotions, but rather the center of rational activity and will (see verse 16 and 3.17). Bright has “My reason is staggered within me.” Other possibilities for translators are “I am very disturbed in my mind” and “My thinking is completely upset.”
The clause translated in Revised Standard Version as all my bones shake is thought by some scholars to be better translated “all my bones are weak.” In either case, the meaning seems to be the same as My heart is broken within me. Some versions retain the form, “my bones are weak [or, shake],” while others relate it directly to the previous line with “I am so disturbed in my mind that even my bones are shaking.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “I am troubled and my entire body is shaking….”
Although most translations retain both a drunken man and a man overcome by wine, the two phrases mean the same thing and may be combined. In some languages translators will fill out the simile, as in “I can’t control myself, as if I were drunk.” Drunkenness is known in most cultures (unfortunately), but not in all. Where it is not known, translators might have to say “I can’t control myself at all” or “it’s as if something I drank [or, ate] made me lose control of my faculties [or, my body].”
The expression holy words is sometimes a problem. Normally holy refers to something that pertains to God, so that holy words could mean simply “words that God has spoken.” Thus Because of the LORD and because of his holy words can be expressed as “Because of what the LORD has done, and because of the words he has spoken,” or it can be expressed more concisely as “Because of the words the LORD has spoken.” Good News Translation introduces these two lines before the imagery of the drunken man, so that the reader will immediately recognize the comparison between wine and God’s words. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch restructures the last four lines to say “I am like a drunk man, it’s as though I’m overcome by the wine of what the Lord, the holy God, has spoken to me.” Then verses 10-12 define the “wine” that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah.
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 .