As indicated in the introduction to the section, this verse is parenthetical, referring to the refugees (most probably Jewish refugees) who have escaped from Babylonia and returned to Jerusalem. Good News Translation uses parentheses to mark the nature of the verse; other versions try to link it to the previous verse in different ways.

Who is the speaker of this verse? Contemporary English Version makes it clearly the LORD by using a first person pronoun. But other options are possible: Jeremiah, some unknown narrator, or those people who have remained in Jerusalem.

Hark! they flee and escape from the land of Babylon is more literally “Sound of those fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch introduces the verse by saying “Listen! Refugees from Babylonia have come!”

For Zion Good News Translation substitutes the more familiar “Jerusalem,” as it often does in prose passages. See 3.14.

The vengeance of the LORD: For many languages this is better expressed as in Good News Translation “how the LORD our God took revenge.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders the last half of the verse as “They are telling on Mount Zion how the Lord our God has punished the Babylonians for destroying his temple!”

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 .