The image of break in pieces can be retained, but in these verses wherever it is people being dealt with, Good News Translation shifts to “kill,” “slay,” “slaughter,” or “crush.”

The horse and his rider: This is to be understood in a collective sense (Good News Translation “horses and riders”), as are the other objects and persons mentioned in these verses. What is important in the translation of this short passage is to render it in a way that will convey a dramatic and forceful impact to the reader.

For chariot see 4.13.

As elsewhere, if shepherds and flocks are not known, translators can use general terms such as “herdsmen” and “herds of domestic animals [or, their herds].”

The team of the farmer is either the horses or oxen he uses for plowing. Oxen are more likely, but translators can also use a general term such as “animals that pull the plow.”

Since governors and commanders are titles that are difficult to define precisely, it is best to translate them by terms that are more general, representing high positions of civil authority, such as in Good News Translation “rulers and high officials.”

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 .