On all the housetops of Moab: This is a reference to the flat roofs of houses, where sacrifices were sometimes offered (see 19.13; 32.29). In areas where this type of roof would seem very odd, translators can help their readers with a phrase such as “On all the housetops where people gather.”

The squares refers to the “public squares” (Good News Translation), which were the most frequent gathering places in the towns and villages. See 5.1.

There is nothing but lamentation: Translators may need to restructure this; for example, “people are doing nothing but crying” or, for the whole sentence, “All over Moab, on its housetops and in all its public squares, people are mourning.”

I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares: See 22.28.

Says the LORD: See 1.8. Good News Translation moves this to the end of verse 39.

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 .