With the beginning of a new chapter and section, Moses may need to be reintroduced as the speaker; for example, “Moses said to the people of Israel:….”

Verses 1-2 are one sentence, and some restructuring may be required, such as Good News Translation has done.

Brings: or “takes” (see 6.10).

Take possession: see 2.12.

Clears away many nations before you: see 4.38. The verb means “expel,” “drive out” (Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version). For before you Good News Translation has “as you advance.” The many nations are seven in number; the list here is complete.

Seven nations greater and mightier than yourselves: greater means larger in number of population, and mightier (Note Exo 1.9) refers to the combined strength of a large population rather than the physical strength of each individual.

The meaning and origin of the names of these seven nations are matters of dispute among scholars. Some of these groups are said to have been descended from Noah’s son Ham (Gen 10.6, 15-19), but the Handbook does not recommend that they appear as “the descendants of….” The Jebusites are identified as the inhabitants of Jebus, that is, Jerusalem (Josh 15.8, 63), and so can be called “the people who lived in [the city of] Jebus.” The Canaanites can also be called “a people who lived in [the land of] Canaan.” It seems, however, that the best translation of all seven of these names is “the people called ‘Hittites’ ” and so on, transliterating the proper names in accordance with the rules of the target language.

In restructuring the text, the information about the seven nations may be placed nearer to the beginning of the verse, as follows:

• The LORD your God is going to take you into the land that you will possess. Seven nations that have more people and are stronger than you live in that land: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. As you advance [into the land] God will drive them all out.

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 .