This verse offers the reason for Yahweh’s commands. It is better to keep it in the same paragraph with verses 1-5, as Good News Translation and New Revised Standard Version do.

Here the Hebrew text switches from the second person plural of address to the second singular, but in some languages translators may need to keep the plural pronoun.

You are a people holy to the LORD your God: the adjective holy means being the exclusive possession of Yahweh their God, and thus complete dedication to him. Holiness is not primarily moral and spiritual purity; it is total commitment to the exclusive worship and service of God. So Good News Translation has “Do this because you belong to the LORD your God,” and Contemporary English Version has “Israel, you are the chosen people of the LORD your God.”

God has chosen you: the initiative is God’s, not Israel’s. The verb has the sense of choosing from among several options: out of all the peoples.

For his own possession: this is the meaning of holiness, “belonging exclusively to God.”

On the face of the earth: it is not necessary to reproduce the Hebrew figure “face of the earth”; it is enough to say “all the world,” or “the whole earth” (see 6.15).

New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh offers a good model for this verse:

• You are a people consecrated to the LORD your God; of all the peoples on earth the LORD your God chose you to be His treasured people.

However, in languages that do not use the passive voice, we may translate

• Israel, you belong to the LORD your God. There are many nations [or, peoples] in the world, but he chose only you to be his special people.

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 .