Then on the day may also be expressed as “when,” or even “later, when…” (Contemporary English Version).

When he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons: here the Good News Translation translation “children” for sons is not exact. The daughters play no role in the distribution of the man’s estate; the assumption is that daughters get married and so will be taken care of by their husbands. An alternative model for this first sentence is “Later, when the man divides the property among his sons, ….”

In preference to: this translates a Hebrew idiomatic phrase, “over the face of,” which indicates preference (also in 5.7). This final sentence may also be expressed as “he is not to show partiality to the son of his favorite wife by giving him the share that belongs to the first-born son.”

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 .