In verses 28-33 it is not at once clear whom Yahweh is speaking about. It may be the people of Israel, or their enemies (so New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible). Or it is possible that verses 28-31 are about Israel, and verses 32-33 about their enemies (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum, Pléiade). There is no way to be sure, but it seems best to follow the lead of Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and others; and this is what the following comments will do. Again, it is possible that in verses 28-31 the speaker is Moses, and God resumes as speaker in verse 32 (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh introduces Yahweh as speaker in verse 34). It is recommended that translators who must identify the speaker should pick Moses; for example, “Moses said,” or “Moses continued to speak, saying, ‘….’ ”

They are a nation: Moses is speaking about the people of Israel, and the translation should make this clear.

There is no understanding in them: or “they have no wisdom at all,” “they don’t think very clearly.” The whole verse may be also expressed as “The people of Israel are a nation that have no wisdom at all. They don’t think very clearly.”

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 .