As the previous message was addressed to Ephraim the son, so verses 21-22 are addressed to Israel the young woman. It is the prophet (rather than the LORD) who speaks, as is indicated at the end of verse 22.

Waymarks are stones heaped up to mark the location of a tomb (2Kgs 23.17, Revised Standard Version “monument”) or some other spot (Ezek 39.15, Revised Standard Version “sign”). Translators can use something such as “markers.”

Guideposts is found only here in the Old Testament, though a word sounding the same and meaning “bitterness” is found in 6.26; 31.15. Here “signposts” is a common translation. Since the context here is a highway, it is appropriate to choose words for waymarks and guideposts which relate to roads, as in Good News Translation “Set up signs and mark the road.”

Consider well the highway: Consider well is more literally “place your heart to,” which Bright and New Jerusalem Bible render “fix your mind on,” since in Hebrew the heart represents a person’s intellect or will. Revised English Bible has “make sure of the road.” Good News Translation makes the intent clear: “find again the way.” The noun highway is used only here in Jeremiah though it occurs a number of other times in the Old Testament. Originally it referred to a road that was raised with layers of stone, gravel, or the like, but here it is used in parallel with the usual word for road, and should be translated simply as “road.”

The thrust of consider well the highway, the road by which you went is for the people to remember and then return by the way they had left. Hence Good News Translation “find again the way by which you left” and “come home.”

Return: Used twice, this verb intensifies the call to repentance.

For virgin Israel, see verse 4.

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 .