Jehoiakim … He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David may sound somewhat unclear. Since Jehoiakim … He in reality refers to Jehoiakim’s descendants, and sit upon the throne is the equivalent of “rule” (see 22.2), Good News Translation renders “King Jehoiakim, that no descendant of yours will ever rule over David’s kingdom.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar with “Jehoiakim, king of Judah: none of your descendants will succeed you on the throne of David.” Bible en français courant has “Jehoiakim will not have a descendant who will reign after him over the kingdom of David.” Jehoiakim was, in fact, succeeded by his son Jehoiachin, but he reigned for only three months, after which he surrendered to the Babylonians and was taken away into exile (2 Kgs 24.8-16).

His dead body shall be cast out: Dead body is definitely redundant in English, which would use either “body” or “corpse.” Shall be cast out is a passive construction. Translators in some languages will want to say, for example, “People will throw your corpse out.” The desecration of a person’s body after death was a most horrendous fate. See 22.18-19.

Heat: The root meaning of the word is “dryness” or “drought.” However, it may mean “heat” (Gen 31.40), or even “devastation” or “ruin” (Isa 61.4). Good News Translation “exposed to the sun” is probably correct.

If frost is not known, translators should simply say “cold.”

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 .