Their children, who have not known it: this means their descendants, yet to be born. The regular reading of the Law must never cease. Good News Translation has a good model: “In this way your descendants who have never heard the law of the LORD your God”; or we may say “In this way each new generation of your descendants will hear the law….”

As long as you live: this applies not only to the people there who are listening to Moses, but to all Israelites in the future. The Septuagint has “they live,” and this is how Good News Translation translates it, in order to apply the saying to the Israelites yet to be born.

To possess: see 1.8.

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 .

Stirred me to jealousy: see verse 16; this is parallel with they have provoked me, or “made me angry” (see 31.29).

What is no god: see verse 17; this is parallel with their idols in the next line. The Good News Translation rendering “so-called gods” is difficult to translate. Something like “worthless and false gods” will be easier.

I will stir them to jealousy … I will provoke them: God will do to his people exactly what they have done to him—a perfect payback. Two alternative ways of combining these first two lines are:

• You worshiped worthless idols
and made me jealous and angry.
You made me jealous and angry
because you worshiped worthless idols
which are not gods at all.

Those who are no people: this is the counterpart of what is no god. God will use nations and peoples who are inferior and who do not merit the name “people”; instead they are a foolish nation (see verse 6). See Paul’s use of this verse in Rom 10.19. Those who are no people and a foolish nation refer to the same nation, not to two different nations. It will be helpful in some languages to combine the two lines as follows:

• Now I will send a nation of worthless and stupid people to make you jealous and angry.

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 .

From this verse to the end of verse 25, the words of blessing are addressed to each of the tribes of Israel in turn. We notice that the tribe of Simeon is missing. Levi is listed as a tribe, and in the case of Joseph (verses 13-17), his two sons are named (verse 17), thus making a total of twelve.

The translator must choose, in each instance, between the name only (such as “Judah,” “Levi,” “Benjamin,” and so on) and the phrase “the tribe of Judah,” and so on. In most cases it will be better to say “the tribe of…,” since that is what the text means. Bible en français courant has “the descendants of,” which in some cases may be better. So we may say here “Tribe of Reuben, you will…” or “People of the tribe of Reuben….”

Good News Translation opens the verse with “Moses said about the tribe of Reuben”; this is translational, providing this blessing with the same kind of introduction that appears in all the other blessings; Bible en français courant has “And Moses continued.” It is recommended that Good News Translation be followed.

Let Reuben live, and not die: the prayer, or wish, is that the tribe of Reuben will always continue to exist and never disappear. In English “not die out” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) carries the idea of a group not disappearing.

Nor let his men be few: as some commentators say, this is a wrong translation. The Hebrew text has “and his people be few”; the negative of “and not die” in the previous line does not modify this line. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Good News Translation, and New Jerusalem Bible have “although his people are few.” It is better to follow Revised English Bible, “but may he be few in number” (also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Osty-Trinquet). This is actually a request that the tribe of Reuben will never become strong and dominant; see Gen 49.3-4.

A possible alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Moses said about the people of the tribe of Reuben:
“May you never die out;
but may you always be few in number.”

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 .

This verse is somewhat of a shift; it is not a recital of what happened next, as we might expect, but a general statement about Joshua, successor of Moses. For the commissioning of Joshua, see 31.1-8; Num 27.12-23.

Full of the spirit of wisdom: this is God-given wisdom.

Moses had laid his hands on him: see Num 27.22-23. It will be helpful to place this information at the beginning of the verse as follows: “Before Moses died, he placed his hands on Joshua and appointed him to be his successor. Yahweh filled him with wisdom [or, made him a very wise person].”

The people of Israel obeyed him: this goes quite naturally with what follows; they did as the LORD had commanded Moses and obeyed Joshua (see Good News Translation).

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 .

It will be helpful to reintroduce Moses as the speaker at the beginning of this new section.

He shall not … be charged with any business: it is impossible to think that the man would not have to work for a living for a whole year. Contemporary English Version interprets “public duties” as only “forced labor,” but other types of work are also possible. So “do any other work for the government [or, town]” is another possible rendering. Alternative translation models for the first part of this verse may be:

• Moses said to the people of Israel, “If a man has been married less than a year, they cannot send him off to war or make him do other work for the government.”

• … “If a man has just taken a wife, he cannot be sent off to fight Israel’s enemies or be forced to work for the town.”

He shall be free at home one year: that is, exempt from all public responsibilities.

To be happy with his wife: the Masoretic form of the Hebrew text has the causative form of the verb, “to make his wife happy” (Septuagint, Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible and others). The Hebrew consonants, however, may be given other vowels, making the verb mean “be happy with his wife,” as Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible translate. It seems better to stay with the Masoretic text; a translation may give the alternative in a footnote, as Good News Translation does.

Whom he has taken: this information is redundant, and may be omitted.

scv 24:6

Take … in pledge: an Israelite could not charge a fellow-Israelite any interest on a loan. In order to make sure that the loan would be repaid, however, the lender would take an object of value from the borrower and keep it until the loan had been repaid. This item would serve as a pledge, that is, a promise on the part of the borrower that the loan would be repaid.

A mill: this refers to the small mill in every household with which the housewife would grind the grain every day in order to make bread. It consisted of two stones; it was enough to take away the upper millstone to render the mill ineffective.

An alternative translation model for the first part of this verse is:

• When you lend money to a fellow Israelite, you are allowed to keep something of his as a guarantee that he will pay back the money. But don’t take either of the two stones used for grinding grain.

He would be taking a life in pledge: without the mill the family’s health would be in danger. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model: “they need those millstones for grinding grain into flour to make bread.” However, if the information about grinding grain has been put into the previous sentence, we may say something like “they [he] use that flour for making bread to eat.”

scv 24:7

Is found stealing one of his brethren: as elsewhere, brethren means fellow-Israelites. To steal here means to “abduct by force” or “kidnap,” and translators should use a term that clearly shows that the person has been abducted or taken away against his or her will. See the parallel passage in Exo 21.16.

The people of Israel are the same people as the brethren in the previous phrase, and in many languages the Revised Standard Version literal rendering of the Hebrew will be unnatural style. It will be simpler to translate as “to kidnap a fellow-Israelite” (see also Good News Translation).

Treats him as a slave: the same verb is used here that appears in 21.14 and nowhere else in the Old Testament. Here it seems to mean to keep him as his own slave. For slave see 5.6.

Or sells him: this is the other possibility. The kidnapper may try to sell his fellow-Israelite to someone else who will keep him as a slave.

That thief should die: such a person is to be executed.

So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you: see 13.5.

scv 24:8

Leprosy: it is known that the disease referred to by the Hebrew word is not what is called leprosy today. It was some kind of unsightly skin disease, such as “modern psoriasis or favus” (Mayes); few modern translations use the word “leprosy.” Something like “a dreaded skin disease” (Good News Translation) can be used, or else a footnote, such as New International Version gives for “leprous disease”: “The Hebrew word was used for various diseases affecting the skin—not necessarily leprosy.” In Lev 13.47-59 the word is used for mildew, or mold, on clothing or leather objects, and in Lev 14.33-53 it is used of mildew on houses. It was considered to make the clothing, the leather objects, or the houses ritually impure, and they would have to be made clean (see Lev 13–14).

All that the Levitical priests shall direct you: for Levitical priests see 17.9. Here direct means “teach,” “instruct.”

As I commanded them: Moses is speaking, and the text makes it appear that he is talking about the kind of instructions found in Leviticus 13–14:10-11

You shall not go into his house: in this case the lender is not to intimidate the borrower—who would be a poorer person—by forcing his way into his house and demanding the object to be given as a pledge. Rather he is to wait at the door for his fellow-Israelite (your neighbor) to bring the object out to him.

Fetch his pledge: in many languages it will be necessary to make it clear here that what is pledged is a piece of clothing (verse 13); for example, “Don’t go into the house to get the garment he is going to give you as security” (Good News Translation) or “… to give you to guarantee that he will pay the money back.”

Bring the pledge out to you: or “bring it [the garment] out to you.”

An alternative translation model for verses 10 and 11 may be:

• Moses said to the people of Israel, “When you lend a fellow Israelite some money, do not go into his house to get the garment that he is going to give to you as a guarantee that he will pay back the money. Instead, wait outside and he will bring out the garment you have agreed on.

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 .

With the beginning of a new section, it is recommended that translators reintroduce Moses as the speaker. It may also be helpful to reintroduce the audience, the people of Israel (see alternative translation).

You shall tithe: in Hebrew this is an emphatic command, the compound verb form “tithing you shall tithe.” To tithe means to give to God one tenth of a person’s gross income — in this instance, agricultural produce (see verse 23 and also 12.6). In dealing with this, the most natural way of expressing the command is to say “Put aside one tenth,” “set aside ten percent” (Contemporary English Version), or “save up…” or “store away….”

All the yield of your seed: this concept is more naturally expressed by “everything you grow in your fields,” or “all your crops.”

Which comes forth from the field year by year: a more natural way of saying this is “[all] that your fields produce [or, grow] each year” (Today’s English Version, New International Version).

Although duplication and redundancy are common and effective in Hebrew, translators must constantly determine whether they are natural and effective in their language, and then act accordingly.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• People of Israel, every year you must set aside one part out of every ten parts of all that your fields produce.

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 .

It may be helpful to start verse 10 with something like “Moses continued to speak to the Israelites.”

Moses tells of another forty days and forty nights he stayed on the mountain (see 9.9).

The LORD hearkened to me at that time also: again the LORD answered his prayer. And as a consequence of Moses’ prayer, the LORD was unwilling to destroy you (see 9.26 and similar passages). This can be rendered “the LORD agreed not to destroy you,” or “the LORD decided not to….”

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 .