26 The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God. The shift here is consistent with the interruptions that have taken place in chapters 14 and 15 and in Jeremiah’s response to God’s condemnation of the people of Judah’s idolatry in chapter 10 (note especially vv. 6–16).
27 Heb “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble. The literal which piles up attributes is of course more forceful than the predications. However, piling up poetic metaphors like this adds to the length of the English sentence and risks lack of understanding on the part of some readers. Some rhetorical force has been sacrificed for the sake of clarity.
28 Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.” This passage offers some rather forceful contrasts. The Lord is Jeremiah’s source of strength, security, and protection. The idols are false gods, worthless idols, that can offer no help at all.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,

my refuge in the day of trouble,

to you shall the nations come

from the ends of the earth and say:

“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,

worthless things in which there is no profit.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Lord, my strength and my fortress,

my refuge in time of distress,

to you the nations will come

from the ends of the earth and say,

“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,

worthless idols that did them no good.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Lord, my strength and my stronghold,

my refuge in a time of distress,

the nations will come to you

from the ends of the earth, and they will say,

“Our ancestors inherited only lies,

worthless idols of no benefit at all.”

NLTNew Living Translation

Lord, you are my strength and fortress,

my refuge in the day of trouble!

Nations from around the world

will come to you and say,

“Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage,

for they worshiped worthless idols.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold,

and my refuge in the day of distress,

to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth,

and they will say, “Our ancestors have inherited only lies,

vanity, and there is no profit in them.

O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

Public Domain

Jeremiah 16:19

English

Arabic

Czech

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

Footnotes