In this verse Yahweh tells Moses what to say to the people. If the order is given in direct speech, as it is in Revised Standard Version, double quotes enclose the quotation; but an indirect statement may be used, as in Good News Translation, in which case no quotation marks are necessary. Since the command is such a brief one (Return to your tents), Good News Translation may well be followed in most languages. As a general rule, however, each language should do what is natural and easily understood, both by the reader and by those who hear the text being read.

Return to your tents: the people are ordered to disperse, each family going to its own tent (1.27). In some languages the more general “Go back home” may be better.

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 .