For Behold see 1.6.

Good News Translation has rendered I am against you as “I will fight against you.” The expression is certainly some kind of threat. In Hebrew the pronoun you is feminine, and so many scholars believe that verses 13-14 are directed against the city of Jerusalem. However, the two descriptive phrases (inhabitant of the valley and rock of the plain) do not fit Jerusalem, which suggests that originally the message may have been directed against another city. Good News Translation names Jerusalem in the text, though it also provides a more general interpretation in a footnote. In light of the descriptive phrases, some scholars (see New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch footnotes) assume that the reference is to the royal palace, which would include the king and his family. Another argument in favor of Jerusalem is given by one commentator who would understand the Hebrew that Revised Standard Version translates as inhabitant of the valley to mean “over this valley.” New International Version seems to have followed this, naming Jerusalem and translating “Jerusalem, you who live above this valley on the rocky plateau.” Therefore inhabitant of the valley can be “you who live in the valley” or “you who live above the valley.” As for rock of the plain, translators can render this “[you who live] on the flat rock,” “on the rock over the plain,” or “on the rocky plain.”

For says the LORD, see 1.8.

Who shall come down against us, or who shall enter our habitations?: Come down against us means in this context “attack us” (New Jerusalem Bible). Enter our habitations is better rendered “break through … defenses” (see Good News Translation). The word habitations has as its root meaning a den for wild animals, which is the basis for Revised English Bible “who can penetrate our lairs?” However, the figure is transferred to the defenses of the city being attacked. Who shall come down … and who shall enter … are rhetorical questions that in fact are affirmations by the people: “No one can attack us [successfully], and no one can break through our defenses.”

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 .