A note in Traduction œcuménique de la Bible indicates that build here has a double meaning: (1) as God originally “built” a woman (Gen 2.22), so now he will build the virgin Israel into a complete individual; (2) it also refers to the reconstruction of the nation. “Restore,” “reestablish” or “rebuild” are the most common expressions of this sense.
The verse goes on with and you shall be built, an example of parallelism that Good News Translation finds redundant and drops. For the first two lines New Jerusalem Bible has “I shall build you once more, yes, you will be rebuilt, Virgin of Israel!” Another possibility is “I will establish you again. Yes, beloved Israel, once more you will be established.”
Virgin: See our discussion of “virgin daughter of my people” in 14.17. For virgin Israel, both Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Bible en français courant render with the equivalent of “beloved Israel.” Good News Translation simply uses the second person pronoun “you,” but this loses the note of endearment.
Again you shall adorn yourself with timbrels: A literal rendering of this may be misleading, since timbrels (“tambourines”) were not actually worn as a part of a woman’s clothing or ornamentation, though the rendering of New English Bible “Again you shall adorn yourself with jingles” may seem to suggest this. Note, however, that Revised English Bible has “Again you will provide yourself with tambourines.” New Jerusalem Bible has “Once more in your best attire, and with your tambourines.” Perhaps the best model, however, is Good News Translation “Once again you will take up your tambourines.”
Timbrels or “tambourines” are musical instruments that can be used for joyful dancing. They were a frame with skin stretched across them much like a small drum. There were jingles attached also. If there is no instrument similar in their culture, translators can consider using a more general term such as “musical instruments [for dancing].”
Merrymakers translates the same participle used in 30.19. Good News Translation renders the last part of this verse as “and dance joyfully.”
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 .