No one feels confident about the meaning of this verse or of its relation to the context. Some assume it to be an editorial addition; others regard it as a song or proverb intended to be sung or spoken when the promises of the previous verses are realized; and still others believe that it is the prophet’s comment on the vision of the future he has just had.

Looked is legitimately translated “opened my eyes” by New American Bible.

My sleep was pleasant to me may be understood to mean “I woke up refreshed.” Revised Standard Version, without going to a conjecture, as in Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible, renders my sleep was sweet to me; this is similar to Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, where a note indicates that this is derived from the message of Israel’s glorious future communicated to the prophet through a dream. This may also be the basis for the Revised English Bible rendering “my dream had been pleasant.”

Translators can certainly follow the model of Good News Translation since the text would allow for it, and it is natural in the context. Bible en français courant is similar:

• That is why someone says, “When I woke up, I saw that my sleep had done me good.”

But most translators understand this to be a comment by Jeremiah, and say something like the following:

• On this [or, Then] I awoke, and understood that my sleep had done me good.

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 .