Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje begins a new section here that goes to the end of the chapter, with the heading “A Blessing and a Curse.” Translators in other languages may want to do this also. If so, other possible models for a heading are “God will either bless or curse” or “God will either do good things for you or punish you.” As with other new sections, it will be helpful to reintroduce Moses as the speaker.

The exhortation (chapter 11) closes with the choice that is given to the people: blessing or curse, good fortune or misfortune, success or failure. All of this comes from God, who will act in accordance with the people’s willingness to obey him. It is not difficult to find a good translation for blessing (see 1.11), but one for curse, in which God is the actor, may prove somewhat difficult, since in many languages the term “curse” is associated with the profanity and vulgarity that accompany a loss of temper. In this context a curse is God’s solemn resolve to punish the people as they deserve for disobeying him. It may be necessary to use the verb “to punish” or the noun “punishment.”

But this curse is also binding. Once Yahweh has uttered blessings or cursings they cannot be taken back. Translators should study the way blessings and cursings function in their cultures. How do these curses by Yahweh compare to those of, for example, the Shaman or the “medicine man”? Will the vocabulary used in similar situations apply to Yahweh’s curses?

I set before you this day: God is giving the people a choice; Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje translates “And now I will let you choose whether you want a blessing or a curse.” Again this day is emphasized.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Today you must choose between two things: Do you want the LORD to do good things for you or to punish 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 .

This states, in a briefer form, the command in 4.2.

In the Hebrew text, and in the Septuagint, this verse is chapter 13, verse 1. The Hebrew chapter and verse numbers will be shown in square brackets, for those who need to use that chapter and verse system.

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 .

Good News Translation and Revised English Bible join this verse to the following two verses; Revised Standard Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh join it to the verses that come before it. It is a linking verse; but everything considered, it seems better to join it to what follows, not to what comes before.

The verse is a reminder of the constant need to provide for Levites, who had no territory of their own and were thus dependent on the generosity of their fellow Israelites (see 12.19; 18.1-2; Num 18.20; 26.62).

You shall not forsake: that is, “Do not neglect [or, disregard],” “Do not fail to help.”

The Levite who is within your towns: in most languages it is much better to use the plural form, “the Levites who live in your communities [or, towns].”

No portion or inheritance: this is a typical doublet, showing emphasis—“they have no land,” “they were not allotted any territory” (see the comment at 12.2).

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 almost the same as 15.15.

These statutes: see 4.1.

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 .

Raise up for you a prophet: the verb raise up in this context means “to cause to appear.” More simply it means to send: “The LORD your God will send you a prophet.” For prophet see 13.1. The noun is singular in the Hebrew text, and most translations take it to refer to a particular prophet who will appear in the future. But as the alternative rendering in Good News Translation shows, the singular here may be understood as a collective, meaning “God will send you [from time to time] prophets”; New Revised Standard Version provides the same alternative in a footnote. However, translations do not give this meaning in the text. The promise (in the singular) is used in the New Testament as a reference to Jesus (see Acts 3.22; 7.37).

Like me: this can be understood to mean “as he sent me,” but most take it to mean that the coming prophet will be like Moses.

From among you, from your brethren: another case of duplication, for clarity. It means the coming prophet will be an Israelite, “one of your own people” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

To repeat what we have said earlier in the Handbook, the translator should be aware of what the second person pronouns you and your may mean in some languages; that is, the person (Moses) who says this is not an Israelite. Such a wrong meaning should be avoided. See, for example, 1.6.

Him you shall heed: the people are to listen to him and do as he commands.

Good News Translation is a suitable model for this verse, as is Contemporary English Version:

• Instead, he will choose one of your own people to be a prophet just like me, and you must do what that prophet says.

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 last question seems to have been added to the original three. It is of a general nature, and the introduction to the question is fuller. Those who are afraid are told to go back home, because their fear might spread and infect the others.

Will speak further to the people: that is, they are to ask one more question of the men [or, troops].

Fearful: this is the common word “to be afraid.”

Fainthearted: as in verse 9.

Melt as his heart: this is a fairly common idiom, meaning to become afraid. Having a heart that “melts” means that a person loses courage, or nerve.

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 .

Only the trees which … are not trees for food: trees that don’t bear fruit may be cut down and the wood used to build siegeworks against the town. Siegeworks included ladders, battering rams, platforms, or towers. In some languages there will not be a single word available like siegeworks, but translators will need to list the objects used to capture the town; for example, “You may cut down other trees and make ladders and towers [or, platforms] to help you get over the walls of the town and capture it” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation “siege mounds,” namely mounds made from earth, is misleading because there were also all the other wooden objects listed above that were included in siegeworks.

You may destroy and cut down: one verb will be enough; the most natural way is to say “You may cut them down” or “You may cut down the trees that aren’t fruit trees.”

The city that makes war with you: it should be clear that the Israelites are the aggressors, so something like “the town you are fighting [or, besieging].”

Falls: this verb is used of a town that surrenders to the enemy; see the same verb used in the same context in 28.52. In some languages it will be necessary to talk about the people of the city surrendering, rather than a city “falling.” So alternative models for translation may be “the people of the town you are fighting surrender to you,” or “you capture the people of the town you are fighting.”

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 .

The young woman’s father and mother take the bloodstained sheet to the elders of the city in the gate (see 21.19).

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• If this happens, the girl’s father and mother must go to the town gate and show the town leaders the blood-stained bed sheet to prove that the girl was a virgin.

• If this happens, the girl’s father and mother must take the bed sheet with the blood stains on it to the town gate to show to the town leaders. This will prove that the girl was a virgin.

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 .