The Hebrew verb translated make void (Good News Translation “frustrate”) comes from the same Hebrew root as the noun rendered “flask” in verse 1. A play on words is evidently intended; but this cannot easily be captured in translation. Translators usually say something such as “ruin” (New International Version) or “foil” (New American Bible).

The plans of Judah and Jerusalem; that is, “the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem.”

Cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies is expressed more naturally in Good News Translation as “I will let their enemies triumph over them and kill them in battle.” For sword see 5.12.

Those who seek their life are the same people as their enemies, and can be translated as “those who want to kill them.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “their bloodthirsty enemies.”

I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth: See 7.33.

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 .