You shall be blessed above …: this may be expressed by the active voice, “The LORD your God will bless you more than any other people,” or “The LORD your God will make you more prosperous [or, have more things] than….”

There shall not be male or female barren among you: barren means inability for a male to beget, or for a female to bear children. In some languages two different words may be required. New Revised Standard Version has “neither sterility nor barrenness,” Revised English Bible “an impotent male or a barren female.”

Your cattle: this is livestock in general (see 2.35), not only cows as in the previous verse. In some languages, speaking about animals being barren may require different words from those used for people.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• God will cause you to prosper more than any other people. No male among you or your animals will be impotent and no female will be sterile.

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 .