Dismayed translates the verb first used in 1.17. When used of the ground the meaning is more naturally “dried up” (Good News Translation). By a slight revision of the consonants of the Hebrew text, it is also possible to translate “the produce of the land has failed….” (New English Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests still a third possibility: “at harvest season the ground was dried up….” Good News Translation places first the information about the lack of rain, thus creating an arrangement that follows the order in which the events happen: “no rain … ground is dried up … farmers are sick at heart….” Following the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommendation, translators could say “Since there has been no rain, at harvest season the ground was dried up, and the farmers are ashamed.”

The word translated rain is used elsewhere in Jeremiah only in 5.24.

The word translated farmers refers to farm workers on large farms. Thus one possibility in English is “farm hands,” although “farmers” is the usual translation. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Bible en français courant use “peasants.”

They cover their heads: See the comment at verse 3.

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 .