Your eyes have seen: this can be said more simply, “You have seen” or, more emphatically, “With your very own eyes you saw.” New Revised Standard Version “You have seen for yourselves” is good.

What the LORD did at Baal-peor: this refers to what is reported in Num 25.1-9. Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility, had a sanctuary at Mount Peor, in Moab, which may be the same as the town Bethpeor (3.29; see map, page xii). The Good News Translation model is a good one: “You yourselves saw what the LORD did at Mount Peor.”

Destroyed all the men who followed the Baal of Peor: here the verb “destroy” means “to kill,” and “follow” means “to worship,” “to become a devotee of.” The Baal of Peor may also be expressed as “The god Baal at Mount Peor.” For “god” see 3.4.

It is possible to rearrange the clauses of this verse as follows:

• You yourselves saw how he killed everyone among you who worshiped the god Baal at Mount Peor.

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 .

For keep see 4.6; for statutes, 4.1; for commandments, 4.2.

That it may go well with you and your children after you: “that you and your descendants may prosper,” “all will go well with you and your descendants” (Good News Translation), or “that you and your descendants will be successful.”

Prolong your days in the land: this is not primarily a matter of their living an unusually long time but of their keeping possession of the land of Canaan for many generations. Good News Translation has “You will continue to live in the land.” We may also say “that you and your descendants will live a long time in the land.”

Gives you forever: the promise is made that the land of Canaan will belong to the Israelites for all time to come.

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 .

Go near, and hear … and speak to us: they ask Moses to act as an intermediary, believing, as they do, that he will not die from such a close encounter with Yahweh. Good News Translation has “Go back, Moses, and listen to everything…”; or we may say “Moses, you [singular] go up close and listen….”

And speak to us: Moses must go up the mountain and listen to the LORD, and then return to tell the people what he said. So it will be good for translators to indicate this; for example, “Then return and tell us” (Good News Translation).

We will hear and do it: the people’s spokesmen pledge the people to obey God’s commands.

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 .

Following the prohibition to intermarry comes the command to destroy the idols and places of worship of the peoples of Canaan.

Break down their altars: altars, on which sacrifices were offered, were made of stone and dirt. Many modern cultures have similar elevated structures for sacrificing animals and offering gifts to a deity. Sometimes this is a stone or wood platform or table. Terms for such structures may be used here. However, in cultures where altars are unknown, we may say, for example, “place [or, platform] for sacrificing animals.”

Dash in pieces their pillars: these pillars were made of stone, erected near the shrines of Baal, the chief god of the Canaanites. Such pillars were symbols of this god. Good News Translation has “sacred stone pillars.” An alternative model may be “stone pillars dedicated to the male god Baal.”

Hew down their Asherim: these were wooden poles, dedicated to Asherah, the goddess of fertility and the partner or female counterpart of Baal. Good News Translation has “cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah”; but Contemporary English Version is clearer, with “cut down the poles that they use in worshiping the goddess Asherah.” “Goddess” may also be rendered as “female god.”

Burn their graven images: these were wooden idols. For graven images see also 4.16.

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 .

Fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know: see verse 8.

He might humble you and test you: see verse 2.

To do you good in the end: the testing was followed by blessings. At the end of it all God rewarded them with good things. Good News Translation has “so that in the end he could bless you with good things”; we may also say “so that in the end he could give you all kinds of good things.”

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 .

Acacia wood: the Hebrew is “shittim [wood],” a word that appears in the place-name “Abel-shittim” (Num 33.49), which, for obvious reasons, Good News Translation translates “Acacia Valley.” It was a durable wood, brownish orange in color, and these trees are still found in that part of the world. Where the acacia tree is unknown, we may say, for example, “wood from the tree called ‘acacia,’ ” and then, when the term appears again, leave out the phrase “tree called.” It will also be helpful to include a note in the Glossary describing this tree.

Like the first: exactly like the first two stone tablets, which God had made.

In my hand: the normal way of saying this in English is “in my hands” (New International Version, Revised English Bible); or else we may use the verb “holding…” or “carrying [the two tablets].”

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 exactly like 6.7, except that here the opening verb is simply teach.

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 .

See the second half of verse 15.

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 .