They shall be wasted … and devoured: the two verbs have the same meaning, complete destruction; the first verb is found only here in the Old Testament. Other ways to translate this are “They [or, You] will die from…” (Good News Translation) or “They [or, You] will be destroyed by….”

Hunger … burning heat … poisonous pestilence: it is not at once apparent what burning heat and poisonous pestilence stand for; they may be ways of speaking of droughts and poisonous snakes, or of fevers and deadly plagues. There is no way to be sure (see 28.21-22; Psa 78.49). Good News Translation is a good model to follow.

The teeth of beasts … the venom of crawling things in the dust: these are wild animals that will devour them, and poisonous snakes that will kill them. Again Good News Translation has a good alternative model.

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 .