Your bars shall be iron and bronze: this is quite unintelligible. It speaks of a strong defense. A “bar” is a long and strong piece of wood or iron that is used to keep a door or a gate closed against anyone who wants to enter to do harm. New International Version has “The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze.” Bible en français courant offers a better model: “He is secure behind his doors with bars of iron and bronze.”

As your days, so shall your strength be: in the context strength is security, not might. So New Jerusalem Bible has “and your security [be] as lasting as your days,” that is, “may you be secure all your life,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “and [may] your security last all your days.” See also Good News Translation. As commentators point out, the Hebrew word translated strength is otherwise unknown in Hebrew; but the context seems clear enough, and the Septuagint translates “your strength.”

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 .