Verses 17-19 point back to the call of the prophet (verses 4-10), but these verses also contain terms and expressions that refer back to the visions and their interpretation (verses 11-16). The function of the passage is to offer encouragement to Jeremiah in light of the inevitable hostility that will arise from his proclamation of the LORD’s message to a rebellious people.

In Hebrew But you draws an emphatic contrast between the sins of the people and Jeremiah’s prophetic task. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch manages to restructure so that the pronoun you is the first word in the sentence, thus conveying the focus of the Hebrew sentence. Note that this is the singular form of you. New English Bible, Good News Translation, and Bible en français courant make it very clear who is being addressed by using the name “Jeremiah.”

Gird up your loins is a Hebrew idiom indicating preparation or readiness to perform a task. The verb gird up is made from the same stem as the noun translated “waistcloth” in 13.1. This garment was in the form of a short skirt that was wrapped around the hips, reaching about halfway down the thighs. When a workman was performing his task or a soldier was going into battle, he would dress down to this garment in order to facilitate movement. Thus the LORD is saying to Jeremiah: “put on your waistcloth and get ready for battle” or “get ready for battle.” Good News Translation translates “Get ready,” New International Version “Get yourself ready!” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “take courage.” New English Bible “Brace yourself” is similar to New Jerusalem Bible “As for you, prepare yourself for action.”

One commentator indicates that the imagery of girding up the loins may be rendered in a nonfigurative sense as “Now go to work and carry out your new task.” The task is defined as say to them everything that I command you (compare verse 7).

Arise translates another Hebrew idiom, which may be used to signal either the start of an action or the urgency of doing something. The verb itself in no way means that the person addressed is either sitting or lying down. Although most translations retain it in some form or another (New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version have “stand up”), it is probably best left unexpressed in words, especially if the translation might suggest that the prophet is to get up from either a sitting or prone position.

Just as verse 17a finds its parallel in verse 7, so Do not be dismayed by them echoes verse 8. However, an additional warning is included here: lest I dismay you before them. The verb dismay literally means “shatter” or “fill with terror,” and would seem to be stronger than its counterpart in verse 8. Most translators try to use either the same word or different forms of the same word in both parts of this sentence: New International Version “Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them”; New American Bible “Be not be crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them”; Bible en français courant “Don’t let yourself be intimidated by them, lest I render you timid before them.” New Revised Standard Version has “Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them.” By them is best taken as alluding to the present in the sense “by reason of them now”; before them would then refer to the future, when Jeremiah goes to proclaim God’s message to the people. Thus Good News Translation translates “of them now … when you are with them.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch very effectively brings out the contrast between the two clauses: “Do not be afraid of them, or I will see to it that you really must be afraid of them!”

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 .