Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor … smote; that is, “This is the LORD’s message about Kedar … Hazor.” There are too many things said about Hazor to make this introductory sentence easy to read. It may be better to introduce one or two sentence breaks; for example, “This is what the LORD said about the tribe of Kedar and the areas controlled by Hazor. (King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia conquered those districts.)” For Kedar see 2.10. Many translations render it “tribe of Kedar.” Hazor may be a city of the eastern desert region or merely a term for unwalled villages of Arab tribes in that region. It is not to be identified with the towns of the same name in and near Judah. The text speaks of the kingdoms of Hazor. Translators can retain this or, recognizing that these were really settlements, use an expression such as “districts” (so Good News Translation).

Thus says the LORD: See 2.2. Now the message from the LORD begins.

Rise up, advance against is the equivalent of “attack” (Good News Translation). But who is the LORD addressing? Most translations do not say or, worse, they make it seem that this is what the LORD said to Kedar. Perhaps Good News Translation is correct in taking these words as addressed to Nebuchadnezzar.

The people of the east is literally “the children of the east,” a reference to the Arabian tribes east of Judah. Translators can say something like “those peoples who live in the eastern regions.”

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 .