Thus says the LORD: See 2.2. In place of two levels of direct discourse as in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation combines direct discourse with indirect discourse: “The LORD had said that….”

You have broken wooden bars, but I will make in their place bars of iron: As the Revised Standard Version note indicates, the pronoun I follows the Septuagint; the standard Hebrew Masoretic Text has “you.” Bible en français courant follows the Masoretic Text, which is also the preference of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible also accepts the Masoretic Text, but indicates in a note the form of the Septuagint text. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch very neatly resolves the problem by translating, “You have broken the yoke of wood, but because of this a yoke of iron now will come.” New Revised Standard Version is also very good: “You have broken wooden bars only to forge iron bars in place of them!”

Regardless of which text we follow, the resultant meaning is essentially the same: Hananiah’s act of destroying Jeremiah’s yoke will serve to strengthen rather than to destroy the power of Babylonia. And it is clear that the LORD will be the one to bring this about.

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 .