In many languages it is more natural to begin the verse with the reference to those addressed, O inhabitants of Moab! See Good News Translation, for example.

Dwell in the rock: The use of the singular rock is misleading as is the definite article the, which suggests one particular rock where the people were supposed to hide. It would be more accurate to use the plural and translate “cliffs” (Good News Translation) or “crags” (New American Bible, Revised English Bible). Or translators could say simply “among the rocks.” Rocky cliffs (and the caves that they contain) often served as hiding places for people running from their enemies (see 16.16; Jdg 6.2; 1Sam 13.6; compare Isa 2.19, 21).

The dove is used in a collective sense and may be better rendered as “doves” or “those doves.” If doves are not known, translators can use a general term like “birds.”

In the sides of the mouth of a gorge represents a fairly literal rendering of the Hebrew text, which Good News Translation has translated “in the sides of a ravine.” New American Bible translates the last two lines as “Be like a dove that nests out of reach on the edge of a chasm.”

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 .