The heavens … shall be brass: the sense of this is that “No rain shall fall” (Good News Translation). If the Hebrew figurative language is retained, New Revised Standard Version “sky” is better than heavens. It is also possible to keep the figurative language and also give the meaning of “drought,” as Contemporary English Version does with “The LORD will make the sky overhead seem like a bronze roof that keeps out the rain.”

The earth … shall be iron: because of the prolonged drought the soil will dry out and become hard as iron (see Lev 26.19). Contemporary English Version is even clearer, with “the ground under your feet will become hard as iron.”

Some translators will find it useful to combine verses 21-23 in order to eliminate the repetition. The following is a model which does this:

• The LORD will send terrible diseases to attack you until all of you die in the land that he is giving you. You will suffer from contagious diseases and burning fevers of various kinds. The LORD will make the sky overhead seem like a bronze roof that keeps the rain out. And the ground under your feet will become hard as iron. He will send scorching winds to ruin your crops and cause them to rot.

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 .