Know therefore: the force of the Hebrew verb is “Keep in mind,” “Do not forget,” and this is what Good News Translation “Remember” is intended to mean. Other possible translations are “You must think about this carefully,” “You must understand,” or even “Be sure in your minds.”

The LORD your God is God: this seems to mean that only Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, is God; none of the deities worshiped by the pagans is God. New Jerusalem Bible translates “the true God” (similarly Contemporary English Version); Good News Translation “the only God”; New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “only the LORD your God is God.”

The faithful God: this stresses the fact that Yahweh keeps his promises; he does not abandon his people if they remain faithful to him. An alternative way to render this is “You can trust him to keep….”

Keeps his covenant and steadfast love: for covenant see 4.13; steadfast love, 5.10. New Revised Standard Version joins the two terms, “maintains covenant loyalty,” but the phrase “covenant loyalty” is not simple or easy to translate. An alternative model is the following: “He will keep his covenant [or, agreement] and always loves those….”

Those who love him and keep his commandments: Israel’s love for Yahweh is shown by faithful obedience to his laws. Since this is referring to Yahweh’s love for Israel, translators may change those to “you [plural]” (see Contemporary English Version).

For a thousand generations: this modifies the expression of God’s faithful love for his people. It is an expansion of 5.10 “thousands.” In practical terms it means “forever,” “for all time.” The translation of generations may be difficult, as well as the representation of the number a thousand. It may be necessary to say, simply, “God does not change, and he keeps on loving his people forever.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• I want you [plural] to understand that Yahweh the God you worship is the true God. If you love him and obey his commands, you can trust him always to keep his covenant with you and to love you.

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 .