Good News Translation and Revised English Bible begin a new paragraph with this verse, which makes clear that there is a transition here from the previous verses. What now follows is in contrast in fact, and translators could also start the sentence with “But.”

Behold: See 1.6.

Deceptive words probably includes both “This is the temple of the LORD…” (verse 4) and “We are delivered!” (verse 10); that is, the phrase reflects the people’s feeling of false security given them by the presence of the LORD’s temple in their city. Deceptive words and its accompanying phrase to no avail carry essentially the same impact, and so we may follow Good News Translation (“Look, you put your trust in deceitful words”) or Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“Take care that you do not deceive yourselves!”). One commentator suggests that the best rendering is “You keep putting your trust in false words.” It may be helpful to make the last phrase a separate sentence: “But it is to no avail” or “But that does you no good.”

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 .