This verse contains both a command (Be not afraid of them) and a statement in the form of a promise (for I am with you to deliver you). In other contexts the verb translated deliver may mean “recover” (Jdg 11.26) or “take away” (Gen 31.9); here it obviously has the meaning of “protect” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “rescue” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible), or “keep … safe” (New English Bible). For Jeremiah this was a much needed word of encouragement, because he seems to have suffered more at the hands of his own people than did any other prophet.

Says the LORD translates a Hebrew noun construction that may more literally be rendered “pronouncement of the LORD.” The noun “pronouncement” occurs more than a hundred times in the book of Jeremiah, usually in this construction. The expression says the LORD is similar to “Thus says the LORD” (see the discussion at 2.2), and is rendered like it in some translations, although if translators can retain two different expressions, that is better. It affirms that a message comes from the LORD and is therefore an important element of the text. It should be understood as authoritative, something to which people should pay attention.

As a rule this expression comes at the end of a saying, though it may also occur either at the beginning or in the middle. For English readers it is sometimes awkward to handle translationally, because it occurs with such frequency and in contexts where it is unexpected. As a rule, Good News Translation renders it as a statement: “I, the LORD, have spoken!” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch here translates “I, the Lord, say this.” New English Bible has “This was the very word of the LORD.”

Often at the beginning of a pronouncement from the LORD, an expression, such as “Thus says the LORD,” is used in translation; but “Listen to what the LORD says” would be much better, because it has an imperative force, calling the readers or listeners to do something, and it is more natural as well. At the end of a message, as in this verse, translators can follow the models in the above paragraph or use sentences such as “That is what the LORD says,” “This word is from the LORD,” or “It is I, the LORD, who says this.” Since these expressions will occur throughout Jeremiah, translators should be sure to treat them consistently.

One problem for translators is to decide whether says the LORD is part of the words of the LORD, and therefore something included within the quotation marks, as in Good News Translation, or a statement of the writer, as in New English Bible, New International Version and Bible en français courant (“That is what the Lord declared to me”). Although there is some reason to prefer the latter, either seems acceptable, and translators will probably do whatever seems most natural in their language.

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 .