Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in … Tahpanhes: It should be made clear in translation that while Egypt is a nation, Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes are cities within that nation. For Migdol see 44.1; for Memphis and Tahpanhes, see 2.16. Translators can basically translate this two ways. One is as in Good News Translation “Proclaim it in the towns of Egypt, in Migdol, Memphis and Tahpanhes.” Here the verbs Declare and proclaim (used twice) are combined. The other way is to retain the parallelism, but still show the relationship between Egypt and its cities, as in “Tell this throughout Egypt; proclaim it in the towns [there] of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes.”

Stand ready and be prepared: The meaning is “Get ready to defend yourselves” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “Get ready for battle; take your weapons in hand!”

The sword shall devour round about you: Here again the sword is used of war or battle, and devour means to kill or destroy (see 2.30), so Good News Translation has “all you have will be destroyed in war.” Translators can also say, for example, “warfare will destroy everything around you.” Bible en français courant understands round about you to refer to the nations that are the Egyptians’ neighbors. This is possible; but most versions translate literally, which readers probably take to mean a widespread slaughter in Egypt (as in Contemporary English Version “Everywhere in your nation”).

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 .