Beware lest you say in your heart: that is, “Be careful not to say to yourself [or, yourselves],” or even “Be careful that you never think.”

My power and the might of my hand: the Israelites might be tempted to think that they had prospered because of their own efforts, their own skill and strength. Many languages require direct speech here, although Good News Translation has indirect speech. A model using direct speech is “Don’t think, ‘My own skill and hard work have made me rich.’ ” Contemporary English Version has “don’t say, ‘I’m rich, I have earned it all myself.’ ” In some languages wealth is defined by possessions (cattle and so on) rather than silver and gold. So we may translate “that gives you the strength to get many possessions.”

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 .