Wail, Cry, and lament mean essentially the same thing. They all refer to mourning. Translators should use terms or expressions that are natural in their language, even if it that means repeating a word or collapsing them into one or two words. For Wail see 4.8.
Heshbon was identified as a Moabite city in 48.2.
Ai is laid waste: The site of Ai is unknown; this is definitely not the city of Gen 12.8; 13.3; Josh 7–8. The city is laid waste, that is, “destroyed” (see 4.20). If an agent is needed, translators can say “an enemy has destroyed the city of Ai.”
Daughters is better rendered “Women” (Good News Translation) or “inhabitants” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
Good News Translation places the terms of address before the commands: “People of Hesbon, cry out! … Women of Rabbah, go into mourning!”
Gird yourselves with sackcloth is a sign of mourning (see 4.8). Good News Translation renders “Put on sackcloth and mourn.” Other translations have said “Put on sackcloth to show you are mourning” or, in some cases, “Put on your mourning clothes.”
Run to and fro among the hedges: By a slight alteration in the Hebrew text, among the hedges (New Jerusalem Bible “among the sheep-pens”) may be made to read “covered with gashes” (Revised English Bible “score your bodies with gashes”). This would be an expression of the figure of mourning (see 48.37), which suits the context. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project proposes following the Hebrew, which is interpreted by Good News Translation to mean “Run about in confusion.”
Milcom shall go into exile: This is not by his own choice. He “will be taken into exile” or “enemies will lead him away prisoner.” For exile see “captivity” in 1.3. Once again Milcom is identified by Good News Translation as “Your god Molech” (see verse 1).
His princes refers to others besides the priests who work to serve the god: “others who work for him” or “others who serve him.” See 48.7.
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 .