Woe to him is rendered “Doomed is the one” by Good News Translation and “Disaster for the man” by New Jerusalem Bible. See 4.13, 31. In this verse translators can try “How terrible for the person” or “The person who builds … is doomed.”

Who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice: In the context unrighteousness and injustice would seem to carry the same meaning. For the combination “justice and righteousness,” see verse 3 and 9.24. The two words “justice” and “righteousness” (“uprightness” in Revised Standard Version) first occur in 4.2, in combination with “truth.” Builds … by unrighteousness can be translated “Without regard for justice, you have had a palace built.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “builds his palace while scorning justice.” The upper rooms were apparently constructed on the flat roof of the house and would have had latticed windows (as in 2Kgs 1.2), allowing a breeze to blow through. Such rooms would have been a sign of luxury. Translators can say “rooms on the upper level [or, floor],” “rooms on the roof,” “rooms upstairs,” or “rooms at the top of the house.”

For the first two lines, translators can also say “How terrible for the one who is unjustly making people build his house [or, his palace], who ignores people’s rights and makes them build the upper rooms [in the palace].”

Who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing, and does not give him his wages: Commentators emphasize the ancient Israelite concept of equality among people, including the king. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates his neighbor as “the people,” and Good News Translation has “his people.” Serve him for nothing is explained by and does not give him his wages. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “You make the people work for you, and you give them no wages.”

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 .