Ask now, and see serves as a literary device to draw attention to the question that follows. In many instances a literal translation will be misleading, and some languages may even require an indication of the person asked. Good News Translation attempts to express the literary function of the two imperatives by rendering “Now stop and think!”

Can a man bear a child?: This is made a little simpler in Good News Translation (“Can a man give birth to a child?”), since there is a slight possibility that the verb “bear” could be understood with the meaning “endure.” The question is rhetorical; the answer is obviously “No.” In some languages a statement would be more natural: “No man can give birth to a child!” In others, the natural way to express this would be “A man can’t give birth [to a child], can he?”

Loins is the rendering of most translations, though Revised English Bible (“every man gripping his sides”) and Good News Translation (“with his hands on his stomach”) attempt more contemporary usage. The word rendered loins does in fact refer to the portion of the body between the ribs and the hip bones, and the context would seem to point to a man’s stomach, which would be the equivalent position of a woman’s womb.

Why has every face turned pale? Alas! represents the standard Hebrew text. By a slight change in the Hebrew, Alas may be made to read “They are.” If this change is made, then the last part of verse 6 and the first word in verse 7 would be rendered “Why has every face changed, turned pale?” (Jerusalem Bible) or “every face changed, all turned pale?” (New English Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends the form of the text reflected in Revised Standard Version and concludes that the other represents a simplification of the Hebrew text, probably resulting from a misunderstanding of the grammatical construction. Most translators will follow this decision and place Alas! at the beginning of verse 7. In 22.13 this word was rendered “Woe.” However, here it is really an interjection, expressing grief or sorrow. Translators can have “How terrible!”

Note that Good News Translation renders Why has every face turned pale? as “Why is everyone so pale?” The expression refers to the way someone might look if they were in sudden great pain and the blood left their head. Bible en français courant has “[Why …] pale as death and with an expression of defeat?”

So great translates the Hebrew adjective “great,” which in the context would seem to have the meaning “awful” (Revised English Bible) or “terrible” (Good News Translation).

There is none like it translates a Hebrew idiomatic expression, which Revised English Bible very effectively changes into a question, “when has there been its like?” Bright renders “Beyond all compare!” The description of the coming day as one of judgment is a characteristic feature of those prophets who came before Jeremiah (Amos 5.18-20; Isa 2.12-21; Zeph 1.7-11, 14-18). It is sometimes best to express the meaning of the first two lines of verse 7 with a sentence such as “A day [or, time] is coming that will be more terrible than any other.”

It is a time of distress for Jacob: Distress translates the noun rendered “anguish” in 4.31. Jacob is here used of the people of Israel (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the descendants of Jacob”; Good News Translation “my people”). This clause can also be expressed as “At that time the people of Israel will be in great distress.”

Since Jacob is a collective noun, yet he shall be saved out of it may be rendered as a plural: “yet they will be saved from this distress!” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

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 .