Therefore I still contend with you ties this passage back to the sins referred to in verses 4-8. If the transition is not otherwise clear, translators might have to say something like “For these reasons” or “Because of these things you have done.” Still is rendered as “once more” by Revised English Bible and “again” by Good News Translation. In 2.29 and 12.1 the verb here rendered contend is represented in Revised Standard Version as “complain”; in 50.34 and 51.36 the verb is used in conjunction with a noun of the same stem and translated “plead … cause” by Revised Standard Version. Here, however, New Revised Standard Version has “accuse,” and this or another legal term such as “bring charges against” (New International Version) or “state my case against” (Good News Translation) is probably best.

Says the LORD: See the comment at 1.8. It might not sound natural to have the expression at this place in the middle of the utterance. Translators can move it to the beginning of the verse, or possibly do something similar to Good News Translation, which conveys the meaning of the phrase by “I, the LORD.”

Your children’s children is translated “your children and grandchildren” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Good News Translation (with a shift to the third person) is more inclusive: “their descendants.”

The verb contend is used twice in the verse, but the second line reverses the order of the first, thereby producing the structure called chiasmus, common in Hebrew poetry. It may not be natural to retain this, of course. Translators could use the following as a model:

• For these reasons I will bring charges against you once more, and not only against you, but against your descendants as well.

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 .