Go to the top of Pisgah: in some languages the equivalent of “Climb [up] to the top of Mount Pisgah” will be more natural style.

Lift up your eyes … and behold it with your eyes: this literal word-for-word equivalence of the Hebrew text is quaint and unnatural. Something like “take a good look … look all around” is normal English. In certain languages this will be expressed as “look out over….” (See also I lift up my eyes to the hills)

Westward … northward … southward … eastward: languages usually have a standard order or pattern for referring to the four points of the compass. In English and many other languages it is “north, south, east, and west.” In some languages something like “Look in all directions” or “Look all around you” will be used. Translators should use the patterns followed in their languages. (See also cardinal directions (north, south, east, west)

You shall not go over this Jordan: the literal translation “this Jordan” makes it sound like there is some other Jordan elsewhere. Contemporary English Version has a good model: “but you are not going to cross the Jordan River.”

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 .