This verse is in the form of a wish, or a prayer. New Jerusalem Bible takes it to be a statement, but this seems quite unlikely. Bible en français courant translates “I hope that….” We may also say “I pray that….”

The LORD, the God of your fathers: again, if your excludes Moses, the translation must be “the God of our fathers”—that is, “of our ancestors.” The possessive “your [or, our]” must not be understood to mean that God belonged to the ancestors; therefore it may be necessary to translate “the God that your [or, our] ancestors worshiped.” For a comment on fathers or “ancestors,” see verse 8.

Make you a thousand times as many as you are: for languages that have a name for the quantity “one thousand,” there is no great problem involved in translating this: “make you a thousand times more than you are now.” But languages not having a numerical system that reaches to one thousand must be content to say the equivalent of “many, many more,” and we may translate “cause you to have many, many more children and grandchildren.” The figure is not meant literally; it is a typical hyperbole (exaggeration) expressing the desire that the Israelites become a very numerous people.

And bless you, as he has promised you: the verb “to bless” means “to do good things to,” “to give good things to”; Good News Translation “make prosperous.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• I pray that Yahweh, who is the God we worship, will cause you to have many, many more children and grandchildren, and also give lots of good things to you as he has promised.

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 .