Secretly may be rendered “privately” (Good News Translation).

No one will know it: Translators should not interpret this to mean that no one will know Ishmael has been killed, but, as in Good News Translation, that no one will know that it was Johanan who did it.

Why should he take … would perish?: This is a long rhetorical question that Good News Translation has wisely broken down into a question and a sentence that gives the consequences if Gedaliah is killed. In some languages, even the short rhetorical question would be more naturally expressed as an affirmation: “He must not be allowed to kill you!”

The remnant of Judah; that is, the people who are left in Judah. See verse 11.

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 .