The first part of this verse in Hebrew is extremely difficult. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests a meaning that may be expressed as follows: “They use their tongues to tell lies, just as an archer uses a bow to shoot arrows. They have grown powerful, but they are not faithful to the LORD.” In this rendering the noun truth is taken to mean “faithfulness” or “loyalty” in relation to God. See the comment at 5.1. A possible variation on the second sentence of this model is “It is because of their falsehood they have become powerful in the land, not because they are loyal to me.” Note that Good News Translation has dropped the image of the bow, but most translators will try to retain it, as in the example above.

For they proceed from evil to evil is more naturally expressed by Good News Translation as “My people do one evil thing after another.”

They do not know me: See the comment on “knew” at 1.5. New Jerusalem Bible has “but me they do not know” and New English Bible “and for me they care nothing”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “they will have nothing to do with me” and Good News Translation “and do not acknowledge me as their God.” Translators should find a natural way to express the focus and meaning given in these versions.

For says the LORD, see 1.8.

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 .