A copy of a letter which Jeremiah sent …: This verse is a preface to the book, describing the rest of the contents. As the literal translation by Revised Standard Version indicates, this is not a complete sentence in Greek, but the addition of “This is” in Good News Translation helps the reader by creating a straightforward sentence. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version translate “the letter,” which is potentially confusing since Jer 29 refers to a letter written by Jeremiah (but after the people were already in Babylon) and quotes it. People who are familiar with the book of Jeremiah could misinterpret this.

To those who were to be taken to Babylon as captives by the king of the Babylonians: Good News Translation identifies those the letter was addressed to as “the people of Jerusalem.” The author assumes this information, but the modern reader needs this to be spelled out. Limiting the message to the people only of Jerusalem may be a mistake, however. It is better to refer to them as “the people of Judah and Jerusalem” (Contemporary English Version), “the Judeans,” or even “the Jews” since this would allow the letter to be addressed to all the exiles, not just those from Jerusalem.

Babylon was the capital city of Babylonia. It may be helpful to identify Babylon as “the capital [or, chief] city Babylon” (see the comments on Bar 1.9).

For as captives, Good News Translation has “just before they were captured,” but this may misrepresent the Greek. The people addressed had probably already been captured; the Greek describes them as captives, but captives who were about to be taken away. The Good News Translation interpretation may be correct, but a safer rendering would be “to the Jews who had been captured by the Babylonian king and who were about to be taken off to Babylon” or “to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, just before the king of Babylonia took them as captives to the city of Babylon” (Contemporary English Version). The Greek structure here is really the same as in verse 2, where Good News Translation more aptly translates “you are about to be taken away as prisoners.” The captivity here is described more fully in 2 Kgs 24.10-17.

For a comment on the translation of king, see Bar 1.3.

To give them the message which God had commanded him: This final clause gives the purpose of Jeremiah’s writing the letter. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version make the meaning clearer by making this a separate statement describing the letter.

Because of the sins which you have committed before God: Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version begin the verse with the separate sentence “You have sinned against God.” The phrase before God will be difficult to translate in a number of languages. In this context it means “doing something contrary to God’s will,” so a translation like “make a mistake” or “commit an error” will not be strong enough. When God is expressly mentioned, as in this case, the sense of disobeying God’s command is primarily in focus. So translators may say something like “You have disobeyed God” (see the comments on Bar 1.15-18).

You will be taken to Babylon as captives by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians: Good News Translation shortens the identification of Nebuchadnezzar by omitting king of the Babylonians, but this information is readily evident from the previous verse. However, in some languages it will be more natural style to include this information; for example, “that is why Nebuchadnezzar, who rules over Babylonia, is taking you as captives to his capital city Babylon.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.