Flee from the midst of Babylon: The persons addressed are not identified, though it is assumed that they are the Jewish residents of Babylonia. Verses 10 and 45 would seem to support this conclusion. Translators may say, for example, “Flee from Babylonia, you people of Israel and Judah” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

Let every man save his life!: Every man probably refers to everyone, not just males. Life translates the Hebrew word often rendered “soul” (see 4.10). The command may be simply rendered “Save your lives!”

Be not cut off translates a verb rendered “perish” by Revised Standard Version in 8.14 and “are devastated” in 25.37. The same verb is rendered “be brought to silence” in 48.2. The problem is that there are apparently two verbs of the same spelling, one of which means “be motionless” and the other “be destroyed,” and the difficulty lies in determining which of the two verbs is used in any given context. In the present passage the meaning of “be destroyed” is clearly marked.

The sentence Be not cut off in her punishment is a warning for the LORD’s people to get out of Babylon before he punishes that city and land—otherwise they will be killed too. The word rendered punishment may also mean “guilt” (New American Bible) or “sin” (Revised English Bible). New Jerusalem Bible renders “do not perish for her guilt,” and New English Bible has “you will be struck down for her sin.” Translators can also say something like “Don’t you be killed when I punish them.”

This is the time of the LORD’s vengeance may need restructuring; for example, “this is the time when the LORD will take revenge.”

The requital he is rendering her is more literally “a retribution he [emphatic] the one paying to her.” A similar expression is found in verse 56, where another word for “retribution” (Revised Standard Version “recompense”) is used. The translation can be “Now he is the one to punish them.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the last two lines of this verse as “The time of revenge is here; now the Lord will pay back the Babylonians for what they have done!”

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 .