Looked on the earth is more naturally expressed in Good News Translation as “looked at the earth.” In this sentence, and lo can more naturally be rendered as “and I saw.”

Waste and void (Good News Translation “a barren waste”) is taken directly from Gen 1.2a (Revised Standard Version “without form and void”). The picture is that of land which is totally unproductive, and we may translate “barren and desolate.”

The imagery of the chaotic state of the universe before God created light continues with the statement that the heavens (Good News Translation “the sky”) … had no light.

The verb looked in the first line serves as the verb in the second line as well. In many languages it will be clearer if it is repeated, as in “and I looked at the sky, and saw there was no light there [or, there were no lights there].”

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 .