This city has aroused my anger and wrath: The Hebrew, “for on my anger and on my wrath became to me this city,” would sound odd if rendered literally into English. New Jerusalem Bible renders meaningfully, though closer to the literal form of Hebrew than Revised Standard Version: “[this city] has been such a cause of anger and wrath to me.” Anger (first used at 2.35) and wrath (first used at 4.4) have the same meaning here.

From the day it was built: In Hebrew this is an active construction, “from the day they built it.” This will actually be the best rendering in languages that would not use the passive in this kind of context. Further, in some languages this phrase would more naturally occur at the beginning of the sentence; for example, “From they day they built this city, these people have made me angry and furious.” Although the city of Jerusalem existed in Canaanite times (see 2Sam 5.6-12), the reference is to its earliest days as an Israelite city.

So that I will remove it from my sight: Clearly the intention is “and therefore I will destroy it.”

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 .