Good News Translation reverses the order of Flee, turn back to “turn and run,” which is more natural in English.

Dwell in the depths is given the meaning of “Hide” by Good News Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is more picturesque: “Hide in the caves.”

O inhabitants of Dedan!: Dedan was a city southeast of Edom. Since Edom apparently never extended its territory this far, some scholars assume that the reference must be to a large settlement of people from Dedan who were living in Edom. As in Good News Translation, many translators will move “You people of Dedan” to the beginning of the sentence.

For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him is somewhat unclear. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh (“For I am bringing Esau’s doom upon him”) and New Jerusalem Bible (“for I shall bring ruin upon Esau”) are much clearer. For calamity see 48.16. Esau was the brother of Jacob (Israel) and the ancestor of the Edomites (Gen 36). Thus many translations have “Esau’s descendants.” For the last two lines Good News Translation says “I am going to destroy Esau’s descendants because the time has come for me to punish them.”

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 .