In the fortieth year: that is, forty years after leaving Egypt.

The eleventh month was named Shebat, the month beginning with the new moon in what now is usually January; but this can vary by as much as four weeks because their calendar was based upon the appearance of the new moon as the beginning of every month.

The people of Israel: this is more naturally represented in English by “the Israelites” (as New Revised Standard Version has it).

According to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them: the phrase according to (or, “just as”) does not refer to the manner in which Moses delivered Yahweh’s message to the people; it is simply saying that Moses told them everything that Yahweh had ordered him to tell them.

The translation of “Yahweh” (spelled YHWH in Hebrew), the name of the God of Israel, is a matter dealt with in most Bibles, and the Introduction to Good News Translation explains why it happens that practically all major translations into English and other world languages have “the LORD” or its equivalent. Since the publication in English of the Jerusalem Bible, “Yahweh” has been shown to be an option for translators, and the translations of the Jerusalem Bible into other languages (German, Spanish, Portuguese) have the same transliteration of the Hebrew name.

There is, however, another option for translators: substitute another personal name from the language and culture of the translation. A Handbook on Leviticus, page 10, has some helpful comments on this issue:

… there may be a personal name for God which is distinct from the generic name for “god” but quite similar in usage to the biblical term … In such cases it may be wise to adopt this name as the equivalent of YHWH. This possibility has often been overlooked in past translations of the Bible. But even though the commonly used name in the receptor language is not an exact equivalent of YHWH, it may be wise to use it in translation and give a full explanation of the Biblical name in the glossary.

However, translators who consider this option should be sensitive to the ideas and meanings associated with the name of a local deity. If these should contradict or even distort the biblical concept of God, then translators should follow one of the other options.

The solution to this problem requires serious study and research by the leaders of the Christian community for which the translation is intended. For other comments on the translation of “Yahweh,” see “Translating Deuteronomy,” pages 7 and following. Translators should also pay particular attention to comments in the prefaces of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, and discussions in other UBS Handbooks.

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 .