Let not your heart faint is expressed as “Do not lose courage” by Good News Translation and “Be not discouraged” by New American Bible. The expression occurs also in Deut 20.3 and Job 23.16.

Report (all three occurrences) has the meaning of “rumor” (so most all modern translations). The meaning of the last four lines is expressed clearly by Good News Translation: “Every year a different rumor spreads—rumors of violence in the land and of one king fighting another.” Some commentators note that political intrigue and internal strife were characteristic of the Babylonian empire for some years before its fall. For violence see 6.7.

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 .

For this verse, see 39.9.

It is not natural in English to continue to identify Nebuzaradan as the captain of the guard.

Some of the poorest of the people: The next verse states that Nebuzaradan left some of the poorest people, using the same Hebrew term as here. Some translations (Good News Translation, for instance) have dropped it from this verse on the assumption that it is misplaced from verse 16. New Jerusalem Bible shows its doubts about the term by placing it within parentheses. But this is not necessary, since the Hebrew text as we have it is perfectly clear, saying that some of the poorest people were taken (verse 15) and some … were left (verse 16). Another way to render the first part of the verse is “Nebuzaradan carried away captive the rest of the people who were left in the city. Some of them were poor people.”

The rest of the artisans: Artisans (not mentioned in 39.9) is the rendering of most modern English translations; for instance, New International Version has “craftsmen” and Good News Translation “skilled workers.” The text the rest of the artisans could make readers think that the other people listed in the verse were also skilled workmen. The meaning is “the skilled workmen who were still left in the city.”

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 .