The ancient Hebrews considered the mountains and hills to be especially firm and secure. But here both the mountains and hills are described as though in the midst of a tremendous earthquake. Quaking (Good News Translation “shaking”) is used also in 8.16; 10.10; 49.21; 50.46; 51.29; in these passages Revised Standard Version often has “tremble.” The related noun form appears in 10.22 (“commotion”) and 47.3 (“rushing”).

Moved to and fro (Good News Translation “were rocking back and forth”) translates a verb form that is used only here in the Old Testament. There is no way to distinguish sharply between the meanings of quaking and moved to and fro; Hebrew is fond of using parallel expressions for the sake of emphasis.

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 .