And the LORD said to me will not be natural for some translators since it is the LORD who has been speaking. “The LORD went on and said” or “And the LORD continued by saying” might be better.

Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah may be more literally rendered “Righteous the soul of Israel who turned away from unfaithful Judah.” In Hebrew thought “the soul” refers to the total person, and so the expression “the soul of Israel” simply means “Israel.” In the literal translation “who turned away” translates faithless (see verse 6). For the meaning of “unfaithful” as a translation for false, see verse 7.

This verse conveys a lot of meaning in a few words. For some translators it may help to expand the sentence somewhat, as in “Even though she has herself turned away [from me], Israel has shown she is more righteous [or, less guilty] than unfaithful Judah.”

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 .