Having quoted from the prophet Micah, these elders now continue with their own words. For some readers it is helpful to begin this verse with “The elders continued….”

Did Hezekiah…?: The elders ask rhetorical questions to emphasize their points. It may be best to shift to statements, as in Good News Translation.

Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah is more simply stated as “King Hezekiah and the people of Judah” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant). Since Hezekiah is mentioned by name in verse 18, it is possible also to follow Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “the king and the people of Judah.”

The object him in put him to death is Micah. In many languages it will be helpful for readers to make this clear.

Did he not fear the Lord: He refers to Hezekiah, not Micah. Using the name instead of the pronoun can help avoid misunderstanding. Fear is difficult to translate with the proper emotional value; Good News Translation has “honored” and Revised English Bible “show reverence for.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch prefers “obey” and Bible en français courant “acknowledge the authority of.”

Entreat the favor of translates the idiomatic expression “appease the face of,” which is expressed in New Jerusalem Bible as “plead with.” It occurs twice in 1Kgs 13.6 (with the LORD as object), and once in Psa 45.12 (with a princess as object, where Revised Standard Version has “sue … favor”). The rendering of Revised Standard Version is also found in An American Translation and New American Bible. Revised English Bible has “seek to placate” and New International Version “seek his favor.” Another common way of expressing this is “tried to gain his good will.” Moffatt combines this verb with the previous verb fear and renders “reverently appease.”

Repent of the evil: See verses 3, 13 and 18.8.

Great evil must be here understood in the sense of “terrible disaster” (Good News Translation) or “great disaster” (Revised English Bible).

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 .