In this verse Yahweh reassures the people. Yahweh has never let the people go without food and water, or other basic necessities.

The LORD your God has blessed you: the second person pronoun in Hebrew is singular; the Israelites are addressed as though they are one person. But the you may be changed in translation to “us” (inclusive); for example, “Yahweh caused us to be successful [or, prosper] ….” Blessed in English has become a religious cliche with no precise meaning. Unfortunately many modern translations still use it (for example, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version). Here the term means to “cause to prosper” or “make successful” (see also 1.11).

All the work of your hands: this is better as expressed by New Revised Standard Version “all your undertakings,” or Good News Translation “everything you have done.” The two clauses may be expressed as “Yahweh our [inclusive] God has caused us to be successful in everything that we have done.”

He knows your going through this great wilderness: this is more naturally expressed “He knows what happened to you as you went through that vast wilderness.” The following phrase, these forty years, may be included: “He knows what happened to you during the forty years you were wandering around in that vast wilderness.” Again the you may be changed to “us” and “we.” Revised English Bible “He has watched over your journey” is possible following “During all that time…,” since the Hebrew verb “to know” means in places “to take an interest in,” “to care for” (see Gen 39.6; Psa 1.6). So Good News Translation has “He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert,” and Contemporary English Version has “The LORD has helped us and taken care of us during the past forty years that we have been in this huge desert.”

The LORD your God has been with you: see “[not] in your midst” in 1.42.

You have lacked nothing: this can be expressed in a positive way, as in Good News Translation, “You have had everything you needed.”

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 .