According to Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, shall make slaves even of them may also be interpreted “made slaves even of them.” Most versions prefer the future tense, and do so without a note, though New English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible indicate that only the past tense may be derived from the Hebrew.

It is important in translation to identify who is meant by the pronouns them and their; for example, “I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done, and many nations and great kings will make slaves of them” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar except that the Hebrew order is not changed, as it is in Good News Translation.

I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands: This has a negative sense here, as in Good News Translation “I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done” or Bible en français courant “I will return to them all the evil they did.” The work of their hands is used in parallel with their deeds, and means essentially the same thing. (This is in contrast to verse 7, where it refers to the idols that people made.) Consequently, the two expressions can be shortened to “all that they have done.”

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 .