The word of the LORD … Philistines: The previous chapter was the message about Egypt. To begin this chapter, translators can say, for example, “This is what the LORD said to Jeremiah about the Philistines.” It is probably not natural in many languages to identify Jeremiah yet again as the prophet. The Philistines were the people who occupied the region along the southern part of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

Before Pharaoh smote Gaza: For Pharaoh see 25.19. For Gaza see 25.20. Although the king of Egypt is mentioned here, the reference to waters rising out of the north (verse 2) suggests that the enemy is really Babylonia (but it cannot be translated that way!). This phrase can be placed at the end as a short sentence, “This happened before the king of Egypt attacked Gaza,” or at the beginning, as in Good News Translation “Before the king of Egypt attacked Gaza….”

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 .