With the beginning of a new section it may be helpful to begin with something like “Moses said to the Israelites.”

At that time: that is, at the end of the forty days during which Moses lay prostrate before the LORD (9.25). This may be made clear in translation: “Moses said to the people, ‘When the forty days and nights had ended, the LORD told me….’ ”

Hew two tables of stone like the first: the English verbs “to cut,” “to carve,” or “to chisel” are appropriate for working with stone, and a translation should use the normal verb for this kind of work. The first two stone tablets had been carved out by God (9.10-11); these two are to be exactly like the original two.

Come up to me on the mountain: God is still on top of Mount Sinai (see 9.9).

Make an ark of wood: in the nature of the case, this is a box, a container for the two stone tablets. New International Version has “a wooden chest,” Revised English Bible “a wooden chest, an ark.” This box is later referred to as “the ark of the covenant” (verse 8). However, in the present context the translation should be simply “a chest” or “a box,” or something similar.

Revised Standard Version and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible give the exact order of the Hebrew text, which seems to say that Yahweh tells Moses to make an ark after he goes back up the mountain with the stone tablets. This seems highly improbable, and most translations are like Good News Translation (Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, and others), which the translator is encouraged to follow.

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 .