If you remain: The Hebrew is literally “and he was not yet going back.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project interprets this as an explanatory remark, followed by a command: “—and since he had in fact not yet gone back—go back!” This seems to be represented by New American Bible: “4 … ‘go wherever you think good and proper’; 5 and then, before he left—‘or go to Gedaliah….’ ” The solution in Good News Translation presupposes an original text that had “He [Jeremiah] had not yet returned [an answer] when Nebuzaradan went on [speaking].” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch begins verse 5 “Since Jeremiah could not immediately decide, Nebuzaradan said to him.” This is a good way to handle the difficulty, but New International Version “However, before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added” is also acceptable, as is New Jerusalem Bible “And before Jeremiah retired, he added.” Revised English Bible is the simplest: “Before Jeremiah could answer, Nebuzaradan went on.”

Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: Ahikam is probably the same person who had saved Jeremiah’s life earlier (26.24). For Gedaliah see 39.14.

Whom the king of Babylon appointed governor: This is often rendered as a separate sentence to make the passage more readable; for example, “The king of Babylon had appointed him governor.”

Or go wherever you think it right to go: Good News Translation has “or you may go anywhere you think you should.”

An allowance of food and a present: Good News Translation reverses the order to “a present and some food.” For the last sentence of this verse, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah a gift and food for his journey.”

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 .