This verse contains a number of dramatic expressions by which Jeremiah describes his inward anguish and pain. Anguish is more literally “entrails,” which the Hebrews considered the seat of emotion. In 31.20 the same noun is translated “heart” by Revised Standard Version: “Therefore my heart yearns for him.”

My anguish, my anguish should be seen as an exclamation, and the cry is not necessarily linked directly to what follows. The repetition is a poetic form that gives dramatic intensity to the expression. Some languages will retain this, but others will have something such as “How great is my anguish!” or “My anguish is too great!” Or translators may use some other form that conveys this strong emotion.

The image of someone writhing in pain is undoubtedly known everywhere, so that I writhe in pain! does not normally present a translation problem. It can be a separate sentence, as in the text, following the exclamation My anguish, my anguish, although some versions, such as Good News Translation, combine the two: “The pain! I can’t stand the pain!”

Oh, the walls of my heart! is abbreviated by Good News Translation to “My heart!” New International Version renders this with another exclamation: “Oh, the agony of my heart!” In fact the exact meaning of the Hebrew phrase is in doubt, but most interpreters see it being used here as some kind of exclamation, and translators should therefore find something similar to one of these English translations.

My heart is beating wildly (Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version) is more literally “My heart is making an uproar in me.” Revised English Bible has “how my heart throbs!” and New International Version “My heart pounds within me.”

Keep silent is the same verb rendered “left off speaking” by Revised Standard Version in 38.27. Jeremiah is pained so deeply by the hurt of his people that he cannot keep silent.

I hear is more literally either “my soul I hear” or “my soul you hear.” The form of the verb in Hebrew (whether first person or second person) is debated, but the meaning is clear, and Hebrew quite often uses “my soul” as an equivalent of “me” or “myself.”

The sound of the trumpet: See the comment at verse 5.

The alarm of war may be taken either as the equivalent of “the sound of the trumpet” or, and this seems the more likely interpretation, as a separate reference to the tumult of war in general (Good News Translation “the shouts of battle”). New English Bible has “the sound of the battle-cry” and Jerusalem Bible “the cry of war.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the last two lines as “I hear signal horns and battle cries!”

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 .