Good News Translation makes the passage easier to read by beginning a new sentence here: “They told you not to worship….”

Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them: See 7.6. Good News Translation reduces the series go after … serve and worship to “worship and serve.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Do not run after foreign gods, bring them no offering, and do not worship them!” Luther 1984 translates “Do not follow other gods, to serve them and to worship them.”

Provoke me to anger with the work of your hands: Some translators also find it more natural to start a new sentence here; for example, “They also told you not to make him angry by worshiping things you made yourselves.” The work of your hands most probably refers in this context to the idols that the people have made (compare 1.16), though it may possibly have reference to the things that the people have done (see 25.14, which is a different context). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “idols,” while Good News Translation renders “the idols you had made.” Bright renders “your manufactured gods.” As the example above and Good News Translation demonstrate, provoke me to anger with the work of your hands carries the sense that the people were worshiping these idols.

Then refers back to all that precedes in verses 5-6. Good News Translation is clear: “If you had obeyed, then….”

In the context do … harm may mean either “punished” (Good News Translation) or “bring misfortune” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

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 .