In most languages it would not be natural to repeat Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard. The pronoun “he” would be better.

Poor: This is the rendering of most versions. Good News Translation has “poorest.” The word may also mean “unimportant,” which may be the basis for New English Bible “weakest class.” But New Jerusalem Bible has “poor,” and Revised English Bible has “poorest class.”

The text has that these people owned nothing, but “owned no property” (Good News Translation) is more likely.

Vineyards: See “vine” in 2.21 and “vine-rows” in 5.10.

Fields is the rendering of most versions, though the precise meaning of the Hebrew is unclear. The rendering of New English Bible (“laborers”) is based on a suggested change of vowels in the Hebrew text. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project does not recommend this.

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 .