There was no man: The absence of man (Good News Translation “people”) on the earth is a further indication of its chaotic state. It is significant that the word used here of man is the same as that found in the first chapter of Genesis. Good News Translation has rendered this first line “I saw that there were no people.”

Birds of the air is simply a Hebrew way of saying “birds.” Since it is slightly odd in many languages to say the birds … had fled, the Good News Translation expression “the birds had flown away” is often a useful model. According to Hos 4.3 and Zeph 1.3, birds and animals alike will disappear before God executes his judgment.

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 .