Do not thy eyes look for truth represents “Your eyes [are they] not for truth” of the Hebrew. For the possible meanings of truth, see verse 1. Good News Translation removes the difficult negative question form and translates “Surely the LORD looks for faithfulness.” Bible en français courant removes the figurative language: “Lord, that which interests you, isn’t it an honest life?”

Smitten, a verb form rarely used in modern English, translates a Hebrew verb that means “strike” (Good News Translation, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) or “strike … down” (New English Bible).

The verb translated felt … anguish may mean either “feel pain” (so most translations) or “pay attention” (see Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Scholarly opinion is divided, and translators may follow either approach.

Consumed would normally be taken in the sense of “destroyed completely,” though the context is against this meaning. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “You have almost destroyed them.” Of course, speaking in hyperbole (exaggeration) is quite common in the prophets; so if it will be understood as exaggeration by readers, many translators will retain “destroyed completely.”

Refused to take correction may be stated in a number of different ways; for example, “refused to learn” (Revised English Bible, Good News Translation) and “ignored the lesson” (New Jerusalem Bible). Compare 2.30.

Faces harder than rock is retained in its literal form by most translations. Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch render it with the meaning of “stubbornness,” which seems also to be the intention of Moffatt: “they hardened themselves like a flint.”

They have refused to repent explains just how stubborn the people really are. The verb translated repent literally means “turn,” and it may be interpreted to mean either “turn from your sins” (Good News Translation) or “turn to you [the Lord]” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In reality both are involved, though the focus would seem to be upon turning to the LORD. Thus the sentence can also be translated “They have refused to change” or “they have refused to come back to you.”

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 .

Verses 6-7 state the reason for the terrible destruction that is befalling Jerusalem: the LORD is punishing the city because he sees in it nothing but violence and oppression.

For the LORD of hosts, see 2.19. The expression Thus says the LORD was discussed at 2.2.

Her trees, referring to the trees of Jerusalem, represents an alternative form of the Hebrew from that found in the Masoretic Text (simply “trees”), though it does have manuscript support. One commentator has pointed out that Deut 20.19-20 forbids cutting down an enemy city’s fruit trees at the time of siege. Even if fruit trees are not being referred to here, a city with its trees cut down would certainly offer a picture of great desolation. But the following line suggests, although not conclusively, that the reference is not to the trees of the city itself, but to any trees nearby which might be used in the construction of fortifications or equipment for use in the siege. Thus Moffatt renders “the trees of the country,” and Good News Translation has “trees.” Luther 1984 translates the whole command as “Fell trees and set up a siege mound against Jerusalem…,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as “Fell the trees around the city and build an embankment against it….” For another reference to this type of warfare, see 2Kgs 19.32.

The construction of a siege mound against the wall of a city enabled its attackers to get on a level with the wall itself so that they could shoot into the city with slings and arrows and then enter it. There are different ways translators can handle siege mound. One way would be to say “Build up a large mound beside the wall so you can get over it [into the city].”

This is the city which must be punished translates a problematic text, which is awkward and ungrammatical. Translations that are similar to Revised Standard Version are New International Version, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Luther 1984, and Good News Translation. The Septuagint has “city of falsehood,” which is followed by Moffatt, Bright, and An American Translation. Revised English Bible has “a city ripe for punishment.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project believes that the expression can be interpreted to mean “This is the city which has been investigated:….” This interpretation of the text apparently follows the root meaning of the verb translated punished by Revised Standard Version. The verb means “visit,” whether for good or evil. If this interpretation of the text is followed, then we may translate, “The LORD has looked closely at the city, and this is what he sees:….” For the last half of the verse, Bible en français courant has “The evidence is this: it is the city which is distinguished by the brutality which rules there.”

There is nothing but oppression within her can be rendered as “throughout the city people are oppressing others” or “everyone in the city is acting with brutality.”

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, following the form of the text of Revised Standard Version described above, reverses the order of This is … within her and translates “… because in her there is nothing but brutal oppression. She has earned her punishment.”

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 house refers to the LORD’s temple, and the identification should be made clear for the reader. Some translators will need to say “this temple.”

Which is called by my name (see also verses 11, 14, 30) establishes the house as the LORD’s own personal property: “in my presence, in my own Temple” (Good News Translation). Translators can also say “in this temple which was made for me [or, for worshiping me].”

We are delivered may more naturally be expressed in English as either “We are safe!” (Good News Translation) or “Nothing can happen to us!” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

Abominations is first used in 2.7 (see there). Good News Translation translates “these things I hate,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar: “everything that I detest.”

Good News Translation has placed only to go on doing all these abominations at the beginning of the verse (“You do these things I hate, and then you come and stand…”). But a number of translations attempt to tie the phrase to We are delivered, with the idea of being safe to keep on doing these things God hates: “You say, ‘We are safe.’ So then you keep on doing those things which I hate.”

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 .

Those translators who are following the outline of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (see verse 4) will have a section heading before verse 8, possibly “God warns those who mislead others [and also those who are misled].”

Since Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch begins a new section with verse 8, the speaker is immediately identified: “The Lord said….”

The law of the LORD is with us is a Hebrew way of saying “we have the law of the LORD” (Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “we know the law of the LORD” (compare Good News Translation). Law is first used in 2.8.

The question How can you say…? is rhetorical, making a point. Translators can also express the sense as “Do you really think you are wise, and have the law of the LORD?” or “It is incredible that you say ‘We are wise, and we know the LORD’s laws.’ ”

The connector But is deleted in Good News Translation since there is no contrast here.

Behold: See the comment at 1.6.

False and lie represent two occurrences of the same Hebrew word. To speak of the false pen of the scribes is a way of saying that what the scribes write is false or a lie, as in “the lies the scribes teach about the law.” The scribes were the authoritative interpreters of the law. The noun scribes is here equivalent to “Those who handle the law” in 2.8.

Made it of Revised Standard Version represents one possible way of placing vowel marks in the Hebrew text. By a slight change the Hebrew would be “made” (without the object it), which is the preference of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. Revised Standard Version is representative of what most modern translations have done; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “The law of the Lord has been completely falsified by its interpreters!” The sentence can also be “The lies of the experts in the law have made the law itself a lie.” Translators who follow the reading of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project here would have a translation such as “Look, the scribes have been making [or, writing] lies.”

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 .

The reason why the women must teach their daughters and neighbors to sing funeral songs (verse 20) is now given. It is because death has come. The text marks this relationship with For. Whether this kind of transition is natural or not will vary in different languages.

Death is pictured as an evil person or force which has made its way into the homes and palaces (New International Version “fortresses”) of the nation. In cultures that do not have windows, translators can have “houses.” Palaces translates the same word used in 6.5. An ancient Canaanite text tells that Baal did not wish to have a window in his palace because of the fear that the god Death might enter and destroy him.

If death is cutting off the children, it means they are dying. Translators can say “Death is taking the children from the streets.”

Children and young men translate the same words used in 6.11.

Streets and squares are first used in 5.1; for squares see also 48.38; 49.26; 50.30.

In many languages it is no problem to speak of death as if it were a person, as here. But in some, translators will need to use a comparison, as in “Like an enemy, death has now come in…” or “Just as an intruder enters our homes and palaces [or, fortresses] through a window, so death enters and there is now much dying here. The children in the streets and the young men [or, young people] in the marketplaces have died.”

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 bare heights, see 3.2. For desert refer to 2.2, where it is rendered “wilderness.” Upon all the bare heights in the desert is rendered “Across all the desert highlands” by Good News Translation. Translators could also express this as “On all the barren hilltops in the desert.” Other commentators believe the Hebrew word translated heights is really “ways,” so that the line would be “Along all the bare paths in the desert.”

Destroyers translates a participle made from the same Hebrew stem as “desolate” in 4.30. Destroyers have come is translated “people have come to plunder” by Good News Translation.

In some languages translators will have to restructure the first sentence: “Men wanting to plunder are on every bare hill in the desert,” “The bare hills in the desert are covered with those who have come to destroy,” or “The bare paths in the desert are full of people who have come to plunder.”

The sword is once again used of war (see 5.17); thus in the context the sword of the LORD means “war that the LORD sends” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “A war, which the Lord himself kindled”).

To devour is a common image for destroying. Consequently, many translations, for example in West Africa where the expression is common, will be able to retain it. See also verse 9. Otherwise translators will use the term “destroy,” as in Good News Translation.

The phrase from one end of the land to the other, if not easily understood, can be expressed as “throughout the land.”

No flesh has peace: Here flesh means “people”; the expression is translated “no one can live in peace” by Good News Translation.

The last part of the verse can be rendered “For when the LORD brings a war against a nation, it destroys the nation from one end to the other. No one is left in peace.”

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 .

Dismayed translates the verb first used in 1.17. When used of the ground the meaning is more naturally “dried up” (Good News Translation). By a slight revision of the consonants of the Hebrew text, it is also possible to translate “the produce of the land has failed….” (New English Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests still a third possibility: “at harvest season the ground was dried up….” Good News Translation places first the information about the lack of rain, thus creating an arrangement that follows the order in which the events happen: “no rain … ground is dried up … farmers are sick at heart….” Following the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommendation, translators could say “Since there has been no rain, at harvest season the ground was dried up, and the farmers are ashamed.”

The word translated rain is used elsewhere in Jeremiah only in 5.24.

The word translated farmers refers to farm workers on large farms. Thus one possibility in English is “farm hands,” although “farmers” is the usual translation. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Bible en français courant use “peasants.”

They cover their heads: See the comment at verse 3.

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 .