The LORD’s portion … his allotted heritage: two expressions that mean the same; see a similar thought in 7.6; 10.15. The passage must not be read as though someone else had allotted Yahweh the people of Israel as his own possession; it is Yahweh himself who does this, who decides that Israel will be his own people. The following verses 10-14 show how Yahweh did this.

His people … Jacob: these terms have the same sense; Jacob here is a way of talking about the people of Israel.

Another possible model for this verse is:

• but the LORD himself
is the God of the people of Israel
[or, is the God of Jacob’s descendants].

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 .