The word that came to Jeremiah: Compare 1.4; 24.4. Translators can say “Here is the message the LORD gave me” or, as in Good News Translation, “I received a message from the LORD.” Whether to state the year this happened first in the sentence, as Good News Translation does, or to begin with “Here is the message” would depend on the translator’s language. See also verse 2 below.

The fourth year of Jehoiakim was 605 B.C. (see also 36.1; 45.1; 46.2) and this was also the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. For Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, see 1.3.

As elsewhere (see 21.2), Good News Translation prefers “Nebuchadnezzar” to Nebuchadrezzar.

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 .