Take away from you all sickness: this does not only mean that God will heal them from their illnesses, but that he will not allow them to get sick. Revised English Bible “will keep you free from all sickness” or Good News Translation “will protect you from all sicknesses” are better than Revised Standard Version.

None of the evil diseases of Egypt: this is the negative counterpart of the blessings: “he will not inflict on you any of the evil diseases of Egypt.” These diseases are probably the plagues (so New Jerusalem Bible “evil plagues”); most translations use the more general “dreadful diseases” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Good News Translation) or “terrible diseases” (New International Version). Some of the most common diseases in Egypt included skin diseases, boils, eye infections, bowel dysfunctions. God will keep his people free from such diseases and will inflict them (lay them) upon their enemies.

Which you knew: this does not mean that the Israelites themselves had experienced these diseases (as Good News Translation translates), but that they knew about them (“about which you know,” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The Septuagint has “which you saw and knew.”

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 .