This verse is similar to 8.7 in that it contrasts Israel’s unfaithfulness with the consistency of nature. It consists of two rhetorical questions that expect the answer “No!”

Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion?: The question is rhetorical, really making an assertion that the snow never melts. Some translators have retained the question and added an answer, “Never!” Lebanon (meaning “white”) was noted for its snow-covered mountain ranges. Sirion is the Sidonian name for Mount Hermon (see Deut 3.9), which is in the Anti-Lebanon Range. As the footnote in Revised Standard Version indicates, this rendering represents a conjecture for “the field” of the Hebrew text. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests giving different vowels to the word meaning “field,” so that the expression “of Shaddai” results. This is another name for God (see Gen 17.1), and they believe it may also be the name of one of the peaks of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Despite this suggestion of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, we recommend following the Hebrew text here, as Good News Translation does with “Are Lebanon’s rocky heights ever without snow?” New International Version is also good with “Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes?”

Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?: As with the first part of the verse, this question is rhetorical, affirming that the people of Israel are doing something unheard of. The Revised Standard Version text is the meaning represented by most versions; for example, “Do the gushing waters dry up that flow fresh down the mountains?” (New American Bible) and “Does the cold flowing water of the mountains run dry?” (An American Translation). However, mountain waters represents a correction of the Hebrew text, which has “foreign waters.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project concludes that this is a reference to waters that have their origin at some distance. If this is so, it would seem then that mountain waters in Revised Standard Version and “mountain streams” in Good News Translation may be arrived at without making a correction in the text. If they are “foreign waters,” the context suggests that they are those which originate in the mountain ranges. New International Version expresses this as “Do its cool waters from distant sources ever cease to flow?”

Although run dry is taken by Revised Standard Version as a correction of the Hebrew “Are … plucked up,” it is possible to take this figure in the sense of “run dry” without supporting a correction of the text. This is the conclusion of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project.

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the verse as follows: “Has anyone ever heard of the snow on the peaks of Mount Lebanon melting or the big streams drying up?” Following the translation is the note, “The details of the Hebrew cannot be understood with certainty.”

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 .