All these blessings: in this context a blessing is something good that is given by God. So we may also translate as “Yahweh your God will give you all these good things.”

Come upon you and overtake you: this vivid language portrays the blessings as living and active; for the second verb New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “and take effect,” and Revised English Bible “and light on you.” Perhaps something like “come and remain with you” or “will always be yours” will be satisfactory in many languages. The first sentence may then be expressed as “Yahweh your God will give you all these good things, and they will always be yours.”

If you obey: it may be better to place this clause at the beginning of the verse, as Good News Translation does, or even combine the two instances of if you obey in verses 1 and 2 as follows:

• Moses said to the people of Israel: “Today I am giving you the commands of Yahweh, the God you worship. If you completely obey them, he will make you greater than any of the other nations on earth. He will also give you all these good things, and they will always be yours.

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 .