Your prophets?: The royal court would have had its own prophets, who apparently were opposed to Jeremiah’s message (see 28.1-11).

Who prophesied … saying: The use of the two verbs is redundant, since saying is the equivalent of introducing direct discourse.

The king of Babylon: It may be necessary to fill this out by saying something like “The king of Babylonia with his army.”

Against you and against this land may be rendered “against all of you and against your country.” By using the plural form of the pronoun you, Jeremiah addresses not only the king, but everyone present.

Jeremiah’s question in this verse is rhetorical, not requiring an answer. It is in fact an indictment of the prophets, making it clear that they were wrong. Translators should convey this sense by whatever way would be natural in their language. For example, some West African languages would say:

• Your prophets who told you that the king of Babylonia would not attack you or the country, where are they now?

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 .