I am watching over them for evil and not for good: For watching over them, compare 1.11-12. For the expression for evil and not for good, compare 21.10 and 39.16. Good News Translation renders “I will see to it that you will not prosper, but will be destroyed.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Since I shall no longer be concerned about your welfare, but only for your destruction.”

All the men probably refers to all the people, not just the males.

Consumed: As throughout this passage, the meaning is “killed.” See verse 12.

The sword is here used symbolically of war (see 5.12).

Famine may be rendered “disease” (Good News Translation), which follows as a natural consequence of war. See verse 12.

Until there is an end of them: Good News Translation, using a second person form of address, translates “until not one of you is left.”

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 .

Daughter of Egypt: See verses 11 and 19.

Be put to shame: The verb used here comes from a different root than the noun of verse 12, though the meaning is the same. As there, translators can say “be humiliated.” See “shamed” in 2.26.

Good News Translation has translated she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north as “they are conquered by the people of the north.” But since it is the LORD who brings this about, translators can also say something like “I will give them into the power of a nation from the north.” For hand with the sense of “power,” see 15.21. For the people from the north, see verse 20 and 1.13-15.

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 .

This verse uses two figures that illustrate the thoroughness of God’s judgment on Edom. People who pick grapes leave some on the vine, and thieves do not take everything they find in a house. However, the LORD’s destruction of Edom will be absolute and complete.

Good News Translation and others transform the rhetorical questions into a statement. Good News Translation says “When men pick grapes, they leave a few on the vines, and when robbers come at night, they take only what they want.” For grapes see “vine” in 2.21.

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 .

Declare … proclaim … set up a banner … proclaim … conceal it not … say: A series of imperatives for making a message known is used in the first part of this verse which all have essentially the same effect. Rather than repeating essentially the same information six times, in many languages it will be preferable to use a lesser number of imperative forms. In any case, say is essentially the equivalent of quotation marks, and coming last in the series it is something of an anticlimax if translated literally. The news to be declared is that Babylon is defeated, but this information comes after say. In many languages words such as Declare and proclaim will require an object. For Declare Good News Translation has “Tell the news.” This is helpful, and translators can also say “Tell the news about Babylon,” which is a helpful model.

All of the commands are to proclaim the message orally, except for the one rendered set up a banner. The meaning of this command is to give some sort of signal that can be seen by the persons addressed. Good News Translation renders “Give the signal” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “Pin it up everywhere.” It is also possible to say “Put up a sign which tells the word.”

Babylon is taken: In this context Babylon is perhaps the city, as opposed to the nation (Babylonia). For English speakers “has fallen” (Good News Translation) is a more natural idiom than is taken. If the language requires an active construction, then “The enemy has captured Babylon” is acceptable. The army of Cyrus the Persian king conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.

Bel and Merodach are two names for “Marduk” (Good News Translation), the chief god of Babylon. Good News Translation uses only the one name, and an identifier to indicate that this is a god: “Her god Marduk.”

Put to shame … is dismayed: For put to shame, see 2.26; for dismayed see 1.17. These two verbs are parallel, as in 8.9. Here translators can retain the parallelism as follows: “Her god is humiliated; yes, Merodach’s [or, Marduk’s] power is broken.”

Images … idols: Both terms refer to the same objects. The second is a somewhat indelicate word, meaning literally “a ball of excrement,” a term frequently applied to foreign gods (in Ezekiel almost 40 times). This is the basis for New Jerusalem Bible “her Obscenities” and Good News Translation “her disgusting images.”

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 .

Their Redeemer: See the comment at 31.11. A number of translations retain “redeemer,” though New American Bible has “avenger” and Good News Translation “the one who will rescue.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible each have a word that may either mean “defense counsel” or “defender.” This is legitimate, since the last part of the verse assumes a court situation: He will surely plead their cause. For the first clause Revised English Bible renders “But they have a powerful advocate.”

The LORD of hosts: See 2.19.

He will surely plead their cause may be rendered “he will intervene on their behalf” or “he will plead on their behalf.”

Good News Translation understands rest and unrest to be the equivalent of “peace” and “trouble.” Since Babylon is also a part of the earth, translators may need to render the last part of the verse as “The LORD will bring trouble upon the people of Babylonia, but give peace to everyone else on earth.”

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 .

Runner and messenger have the same meaning in this context, and are used to refer to the person (here collectively the persons) sent to take a message to the king of Babylonia. Good News Translation renders the first two lines as “Messenger after messenger runs,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “One messenger comes after the other.”

Is taken on every side: The sense of this is as in Good News Translation “has been broken into from every side.”

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 .

When you finish reading this book is reduced by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch to “Then,” while Good News Translation introduces both the person addressed and those the book is to be read to: “Seraiah, when you finish reading this book to the people.”

Bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: This is the last of a series of symbolic actions in the book of Jeremiah (see 13.1-7; 19.1-10; 27.2; 43.9). The Euphrates, as in Good News Translation, is often “the Euphrates River,” since many readers will not know it otherwise.

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 .