I declare to you this day: these words introduce a formal, important statement. They may also be rendered as “I am warning you today.”

You shall perish; you shall not live long in the land: this means that they as individuals and as a nation will soon disappear; see 8.19. The phrase you shall perish is emphatic in Hebrew and may also be expressed as “you will be destroyed”; but in languages that do not use the passive, we may say, for example, “your enemies [or, those that hate you] will destroy you.”

Going over the Jordan: from east to west.

Contemporary English Version has an excellent model, combining and restructuring the clauses in verses 16-18 as follows:

• I am commanding you to be loyal to the LORD, to live the way he has told you, and to obey his laws and teachings. You are about to cross the Jordan River and take the land that he is giving you. If you obey him, you will live and become successful and powerful. On the other hand, you might choose to disobey the LORD and reject him. So I’m warning you that if you bow down and worship other gods, you won’t have long to live.

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 .