O you who dwell by many waters is clearly the city of Babylon. The waters would be the Euphrates River and the various channels that flowed from it to water the Babylonian farmland. See 50.38. Good News Translation makes this a statement, “That country has many rivers,” but it can also be retained as a form of address, “You people who live beside many rivers.”

Rich in treasures is possibly a reference to the riches that flowed into Babylonia from the conquered nations. Translators can say something like “you are very wealthy” or “you have an abundance of treasures.”

Your end has come, the thread of your life is cut: The thread of your life is cut is a metaphor taken from weaving. See, for example, Isa 38.12, where death is symbolized by the cutting of the web from the loom. For most languages this will be a metaphor that is not easily understood. Bible en français courant renders “the measure is complete,” with the note “or the thread of your life is cut.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the two lines as “Your time has run out, you have plundered enough!” Good News Translation, on the other hand, attempts to explain the meaning and retains something of the metaphor: “but its time is up, and its thread of life is cut.” Some translators will be able to use a simile; for example, “You are finished; your life is ended just like someone cuts a thread.” Others will prefer to drop the image: “You are finished; your time of living is ended.”

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 .