The LORD your God has multiplied you: in some languages “your God” will mistakenly mean that the LORD is not the God of Moses, but only of the people he is addressing. Of course this is not what the text is implying. Rather your God emphasizes that Yahweh is the God of the Hebrews, and they must always be aware of that central fact of their existence as a people. So your God or its equivalent should be used whenever possible. This will occur frequently in this book. In some cases we may have to say, for example, “the LORD our God” (Contemporary English Version) or “Yahweh, the God [whom] we worship.” The verb “multiply” means, of course, to increase in numbers by making them a fertile people who had many children (descendants). New Jerusalem Bible has “increased your numbers.” In certain languages we may express this as “The LORD, the God whom you [plural] worship, has caused you to have so many children and grandchildren that there are as many of you as….”

Behold: this translates a different Hebrew word from the one used in verse 8, but the meaning is the same. In some languages an attention-getting marker will be appropriate here (see the discussion at 1.8), but in most languages this word will not need to be translated, as it will sound unnatural (compare Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). Or we may say “… and so you are now as numerous….”

As the stars of heaven for multitude: New Revised Standard Version is more natural in English, “as numerous as the stars of heaven.” Where there are two words, as in English, for “heaven” and “sky,” here the word to be used should be “sky.” If it should happen that the phrase “stars in the sky” sounds ridiculous (where else are there stars?), “in the sky” may be omitted.

The whole statement may be translated:

• The LORD our God [or, The God whom we worship] has given you so many children [or, descendants], that now there are as many of you as there are stars [in the sky].

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .