The portion of Jacob is an idiom used for the LORD. Here he is identified in the last line as the LORD of hosts. Most translations are literal and Moffatt has “Jacob’s own possession.” However, this is misleading. The phrase should not be taken to mean that Jacob owns or possesses the LORD, but rather that the LORD is the God Jacob worships. Luther 1984 has “the riches of Jacob,” while Good News Translation has “The God of Jacob” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the God of Israel,” on the assumption that “Israel” is more natural as the name of the nation than is Jacob.

Formed all things refers to the LORD’s creative power. Although the verb itself literally means “form” or “shape” (as of a potter), the context suggests creative activity: “He created the universe” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

The substitution of “Israel” for Jacob in the first part of the verse by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch aids in the rendering of and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; that is, the two nouns Jacob and Israel are both used of the people of Israel, but readers unfamiliar with biblical terminology may not recognize this. Good News Translation translates this clause as “and he has chosen Israel to be his very own people.” It is important that inheritance (see “heritage” of 2.7) be understood in the sense of what belongs to the LORD, rather than what the LORD has received by way of inheritance. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “he has made the people of Israel his own possession.”

The LORD of hosts: See 2.19.

This whole verse may need to be restructured; for example:

• The God of Jacob, the one who is named the LORD Almighty, is not like these, for he is the one who created all things, and he has chosen the people of Israel to be his own people.

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 .