Instead of the masculine pronoun He, many recent English versions have “That person” or “Such people.” The plural “They” in New Revised Standard Version is also a good way to handle this pronoun.

A tree planted by water: Since the focus is not upon the actual sort of planting, but rather upon the ideal location of the tree, Good News Translation renders planted as “growing.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar. Since the water referred to is that of the stream, the order of the two terms may be reversed: “stream … water” (Good News Translation).

This is the only place in the Old Testament where the word translated stream is found; its basic meaning is that of a watercourse or a canal.

Fear translates a verb found numerous times in the Old Testament. Here it is used in parallel with the verb is … anxious, which has as its root meaning “be anxious” or “worry.”

The phrase when heat comes is “when hot weather comes” in Good News Translation. Translators can also say “in the hot season.”

In the year of drought is translated “when there is no rain” by Good News Translation and “when the rain fails” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Both New Jerusalem Bible and New International Version have “in a year of drought,” since for English speakers the use of the indefinite article “a” is more natural than the definite article the in such a construction.

Good News Translation expresses the negative it does not cease to bear fruit with a positive statement: “it keeps on bearing fruit.”

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 .