Given heed and listened may be represented by a verb plus an intensifier: “listened carefully” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “I have heard exactly what they said.”

They have not spoken aright appears in one commentary as “they speak untruth,” while Good News Translation and Luther 1984 have “you did not speak the truth.” Quite commonly, translators say “what they have said is not right” or “they have not said what is right.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates by a separate sentence: “They have not acknowledged their error.”

Rather than rendering no man literally, translators can say “no person” or “not one of them.” Note from Good News Translation that repents here means to be sorry for one’s actions. Wickedness translates the same noun used in 1.16. It may be rendered as a verb: “the wicked things they have done.”

Since repents and saying do not introduce a real question (What have I done?), translators can say something like “Not one of them repents of his wickedness and says.”

What have I done? is expressed more clearly in Good News Translation: “What have I done wrong?” This is not a question asking for an answer, but is an exclamation of regret for the evil the person has done. In some languages a question will convey that sense just as in the text, but in others it will be more natural to say “What evil I have done!” or “See the evil I have done.”

Turns to his own course is more naturally expressed as “keeps on going his own way” (similarly Good News Translation).

The horse is more precisely a “war-horse” (Revised English Bible). It is plunging headlong into battle. Translators can use verbs such as “charging” or “rushing” to convey this image.

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 .