The greatness of Yahweh’s love for Israel is shown by the fact that God, the lord and owner of all creation, chose such an insignificant people as the Israelites to be his own people.

The LORD set his heart in love upon your fathers: see 4.37; 7.7. In Hebrew there are two verbs, “fix your desire on” and “love,” which are combined into the one verbal phrase. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “He preferred your ancestors [over all other peoples] and loved them,” which may be a good model to follow.

And chose their descendants after them, you …: this is unnatural and unnecessarily wordy. Something like “and he chose you, their descendants” may be better. In some languages it will be better to make a new sentence and say, for example, “He chose you. You are their descendants….”

You above all peoples: of all the peoples on earth, Yahweh chose the Israelites to be his own people.

As at this day: again Moses reminds his hearers of their present situation.

Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje offers a good model to follow for this verse:

• But his love for your ancestors was so great that of all peoples on earth he chose you, and to this very day you are his chosen people.

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 .