The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust: in a vivid figure of speech, instead of rain from the sky, dust and sand will come down on the earth beneath. Good News Translation “duststorms and sandstorms” sacrifices the beauty of the original for clarity of meaning.

Until you are destroyed: the picture that has been given is of total destruction, wiping out the Israelite people (see verses 20, 21).

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 .