Advance, O horses, and rage, O chariots: Whatever the picture is in verse 4, the picture here is that of horses and chariots (see 4.13). The command to start the battle is addressed directly to them. For some translators it is more natural to command the soldiers riding horses and the soldiers driving chariots to go forward. Translators can either say something similar to Good News Translation, or possibly “Order the horse riders and chariot drivers to advance for battle.”

Let the warriors go forth: This can be expressed as “Send forward the soldiers.” They are identified by where they come from: Ethiopia, Put, Lud. Many languages use a colon or a dash for the start of a list, and this serves to show the relation between warriors and men of Ethiopia …. But it will be better for some translators to say instead something such as “Send out the soldiers. Send them out, these men of Ethiopia and Libya carrying their shields, and these archers of Lydia.”

Ethiopia: See 38.7.

Put (Good News Translation “Libya”) was a territory in north Africa, west of Egypt.

Lud (Good News Translation “Lydia”) was probably in the same geographical region.

For skilled in handling the bow, refer to “archer” in 4.29.

It seems most probable that the soldiers referred to were mercenaries (“hired soldiers,” verse 21) in the service of the king of Egypt.

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 .