Notice that the I is the LORD, who is still addressing Jeremiah. Translators should be sure that it is clear to readers that it is not Jeremiah speaking.

For return see verse 6 above.

False (elsewhere in Jeremiah the word appears only in verse 10) actually means “unfaithful” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “faithless” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). The problem with the rendering false sister is that it may be taken to mean that Judah was not in reality the sister of Israel. In verse 6 Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “that faithless one, Israel” as “Israel, this unfaithful woman” and in verse 7 renders her false sister Judah as “Her unfaithful sister Judah.”

What Judah saw (it in the text and “it all” in Good News Translation) might also be “what she did” or “what happened.”

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 .