My heart moans for Moab like a flute: My heart is a poetic way of saying “I.” Translators can have an expression such as “I mourn for Moab with all my heart….” Many translations are fairly literal, with renderings such as “My heart sobs for Moab like a flute.” This would make it seem that the crying sounds like a flute. Good News Translation spells out the meaning of the simile as “my heart mourns … like someone playing a funeral song on a flute.” If flutes are unknown or would not be used for a funeral, translators can either use a generic term, such as “musical instrument,” or use another instrument that would be played for mourning. Bassa in Liberia uses “funeral drum.” The expression, my heart moans like a flute, occurs twice, which Good News Translation combines into one. However, it is possible to retain the repetition: “I mourn for Moab with all my heart. It is as sad as a funeral song someone would play on a flute. The song is also for the people of Kir Heres.”

The men of Kir-heres: Men would refer to “the people of.” For Kir-heres see verse 31.

The sense of the second therefore is better expressed by “because,” as in Good News Translation.

The riches they gained have perished; that is, “all the wealth they accumulated has disappeared.”

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 .