With the beginning of a new section, translators should reintroduce Moses as the speaker.

The land which the LORD your God gives you to possess: a phrase recurring throughout the book (see 3.18).

Any one is found slain: this is most probably a case of murder; but it could be manslaughter (19.4-6), since the circumstances of the slaying are unknown. In many languages the passive clause must be transformed into an active one; for example, “and someone happens to find [or, comes upon] the body of a person whom they [persons unknown] have killed.”

Lying in the open country: that is, outside the town. In a village, or even a city, it would be unusual for a murder to take place undetected. Both Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have “in a field,” but a more general translation such as “away from where people live” is probably more accurate.

It is not known who killed him: the killer is unknown. The Hebrew uses the masculine pronoun him, but obviously the same instructions apply if the murdered person is a woman. Contemporary English Version and New Revised Standard Version are able to avoid exclusive language; Contemporary English Version has “Suppose the body of a murder victim is found … and no one knows who the murderer is,” and New Revised Standard Version “If … a body is found … and it is not known who struck the person down….”

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 .