With weeping they shall come: The weeping spoken of here could be that of joy rather than of sorrow, but it could also be that of repentance, as a New Jerusalem Bible note suggests. New American Bible resolves the problem by following the Septuagint: “They departed in tears.” Good News Translation renders come with “return,” and most other versions are similar.

As the note in Revised Standard Version indicates, consolations represents the Greek rather than the Hebrew, which has “supplications.” Luther 1984 (“I will conquer them”) and Revised English Bible (“I shall comfort them”) also follow the Greek. Good News Translation (“praying”) and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“trusting”) represent the Hebrew. If translators choose the interpretation “consolation” for this line, then it is the LORD who is the agent, the one consoling, as for example in “I will console them as I lead them back.” But if translators choose “supplication” as the interpretation, then it is the people who are doing this, as in “they will be praying [to] me as I lead them back.” Certainly this interpretation (“supplication”) goes well with the thought that the weeping in the first line is weeping of repentance rather than of joy.

I will make them walk conveys a sense of compulsion or force, and so Good News Translation and New Jerusalem Bible render “I will/shall guide them” and Revised English Bible “I shall lead them.”

By brooks of water: By is less accurate than “to” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). The journey is assumed to be across a desert region, and so the significance of “streams of water” (Good News Translation).

The Hebrew word rendered straight may also mean “smooth” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible) or “level” (New American Bible). It may be helpful to make the relation between a straight path and not stumble clear, as in “they will not stumble, since their path is so smooth.”

For I am a father to Israel may also be rendered as a simile: “I am like a father to Israel” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “I am and remain Israel’s father.”

Ephraim: In the present context this means the same as “Israel.”

The noun rendered first-born occurs only here in Jeremiah. The first-born or “oldest” (Good News Translation) son had certain privileges and responsibilities within the family that the other children did not share; he was also the one who succeeded his father as head of the family. There is thus an interesting case of parallelism here, where the second line intensifies or goes beyond the first one: “I am like a father to Israel; yes, Ephraim is like an oldest son to me.”

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 .