Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch introduces a new section heading here with the heading “God has the last word.”

All the people who dwelt in Pathros in the land of Egypt is not found in one of the early Greek versions, and some translations (Moffatt) omit it from the text. This is done because the phrase seems to be loosely structured, and it is assumed by many scholars that all the Jews in Egypt were certainly not present. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project sees no reason for its omission. For Pathros see verse 1.

Although Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Bible en français courant all translate this verse as one sentence, it may be necessary in other languages to divide it into at least two sentences, repeating the verb answered in each of the sentences. Or translators can restructure as follows:

• There was a great crowd of people there who answered Jeremiah then. They included all the men who knew that their wives had offered sacrifices to other gods and all the women who were standing there, and also all the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt. They said….

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 .