Verses 33-34 are two rhetorical questions, each expecting a negative answer. It may be better to express them as emphatic statements, even though this may result in a loss of stylistic beauty. Verse 34 especially is much too long and complex to be read as a single question.

Did any people ever hear…? Israel’s experience with its God is unique; no other people had had Israel’s experience of being chosen by a god to receive special treatment. The question has to do not only with the people hearing a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, but of their having lived after hearing that god speak. Good News Translation provides a good model for restructuring the verse; see also Bible en français courant: “Is there any other people who has heard a god speak to them out of the midst of the fire and has survived, as has happened with you?” This refers to Mount Sinai (see verse 12).

Translators must take care to translate the general term “a god,” not “God” in particular. For god see 3.24.

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 .