Verse 18 is very awkwardly structured in Revised Standard Version, and Good News Translation has placed verses 17-18 together for the sake of a better arrangement of the information. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar to Good News Translation.

Geruth Chimham is rendered simply “Chimham” by Good News Translation and Bible en français courant. The problem is that no one knows the precise meaning of Geruth, although it may mean “inn.” On the assumption that Chimham is a personal name (see 2Sam 19.31-40), we may then render “Chimham’s Inn” (An American Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) and assume that it was a place of lodging near Bethlehem, which was about ten kilometers (six miles) south of Jerusalem on the way to Egypt. Otherwise translators can use a transliteration, as in “they stopped at Geruth Chimham.”

Chaldeans; that is, Babylonians. See 21.4.

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 .