Notice that although the LORD has been speaking about what he had done for their ancestors, now the text returns to second person, you. As we observed in verse 3, however, translators can either follow the text or continue using third person (see Good News Translation) as the language requires.

Brought is used in the text because at the time of this message the people of Israel are still in the land to which the LORD led them. However, some translators have had to say “took” or “led.”

Plentiful is best understood in the sense of “fertile” (Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible, New International Version). The Hebrew word (used elsewhere in 4.26; 48.33) refers to an orchard that has fruit trees and grapevines.

Enjoy can mean “to take pleasure in,” but perhaps better in this context for some translators is the sense of “experience the benefits of.” “Eat” of New Revised Standard Version could limit the interpretation to eating food, the idea being that the people had plenty to eat. But the wider interpretation is preferred by most translators.

In the construction its fruits and its good things, the conjunction and is not to be understood in the sense that it normally has in English. Rather this is a Hebrew construction in which and equates the two members that it joins. Thereby Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “that you might enjoy all the delicious things that it produces.” Fruits is not referring just to fruits such as oranges or bananas, but stands for all the good things that people can harvest.

The last half of this verse draws a contrast between God’s intention for his people and the actual practices that they got involved in when they entered the land that he had given them.

As with brought earlier in the verse, came is used because the Israelites are still in the same land as where this utterance is delivered. Therefore “went” would probably be incorrect unless translators were using indirect speech.

Defiled translates a verb that normally has the sense of religious impurity. Elsewhere in Jeremiah the verb is used in 7.30; 32.34; 2.23 (in the passive). The defilement of which Jeremiah speaks is that caused by the adoption of Canaanite fertility cults (compare Hos 5.3; 6.10). If readers would think only that somehow the Israelites had made the country dirty, then translators might say “made the land unfit for my worship,” “made it unfit for me to dwell in,” or “made it no good for me.”

Heritage (see also 3.19; 16.18; 17.4) refers to property (whether land, buildings, or movable objects) which a person receives by inheritance or by conquest. However, the word may be used in a more general sense of “possessions” without qualification of how they were received. Here my heritage is parallel to “my land” in the previous line: “… defiled my land and made my property detestable in my sight” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Many translators understand my heritage not so much as something which the LORD possessed as something which he had promised to the Israelites. Hence “the country I had given them” (Good News Translation).

Abomination appears a total of eight times in the book of Jeremiah (2.7; 6.15; 7.10; 8.12; 16.18; 32.35; 44.4, 22). This noun is frequently used in a religious sense of whatever is detestable in the sight of the deity. As with the verb defiled, it refers particularly in Jeremiah to the ceremonial and moral uncleanliness that was introduced in conjunction with the adoption of the Canaanite fertility gods and goddesses. “Something I can’t stand to see” and “detestable to me” are other ways to express this concept.

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 .