Oh that they had such a mind in them always: the Hebrew expression is in the form of a question: “Who will give…?” (meaning “If only there were…!”). This expresses a wish: “May they always be of such a mind” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh); “If only their heart were always so” (New Jerusalem Bible); “Would that they may always be of a mind” (Revised English Bible); “I wish that their hearts [or, minds] were always like this”; or even “I wish that they would always think like this.” In this passage mind translates the Hebrew word for “heart,” meaning here the people’s attitude or resolve.

To fear me: see 4.10.

Keep all my commandments: see 4.2.

That it might go well with them and their children forever: see 4.40; 5.16. We should note that the initial it is used idiomatically and does not refer back to anything earlier in the text. We can readily substitute “everything” (Good News Translation) or “things.” Here children means “descendants.” Another model for this final sentence is “Then they and their descendants would always enjoy a successful life.”

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 Israelites were not chosen because they were more in number than other peoples; on the contrary, they were the fewest in number. This may not literally have been the case; it is a way of pointing out that they were an insignificant people, of little power and no prestige.

The LORD set his love on you: New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and New Revised Standard Version have “set his heart on you,” which is a more natural expression in English. The verb means “desire” or “want.” The Septuagint translates with a verb that means “prefer,” “choose.”

And chose you: this additional verbal phrase may be joined to the previous one, as follows: “he decided you were the people he wanted, and so he chose you,” and the whole verse may be restructured as follows:

• The LORD [or, Yahweh] decided that you were the people he wanted, and chose you. This was not because you had more people [or, were more numerous] than any other nation. Actually you were the smallest nation on earth.

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 .

You shall remember the LORD your God … it is he who gives you power to get wealth: it is God who makes them wealthy. We may say “gives you the power to become rich” (Good News Translation) or “gives you the strength to get many possessions.”

That he may confirm his covenant: God does this because he is faithful to the covenant (4.13) that he had made with them, and keeps his promises. We may also express this as “In this way he keeps [or, is faithful to] the covenant he made with….” The phrase as at this day goes with confirm his covenant: “as he is doing today.”

He swore to your fathers: 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 .

I turned and came down from the mountain: this can be expressed more naturally, “I came back down” (New International Version, Revised English Bible), or even “I took them down the mountainside” (Contemporary English Version).

And there they are: Moses is saying that the two stone tablets are still in the Box, where he had placed them some forty years earlier. Good News Translation has “and they have been there ever since”; Contemporary English Version has “and they are still there.”

As the LORD commanded me: this could go at the beginning of the sentence, “As the LORD commanded me, I placed the tablets….” For the LORD see 1.6.

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 .

In Revised Standard Version this verse is joined to verse 20 as a purpose clause. It may be better to make this a complete sentence, beginning “Do this so that…” as a statement of result, as Good News Translation does: “Then you and your children…” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Days … may be multiplied: again, as the final clause shows, this means “that you and your descendants may live forever in this land.” Moses is not talking about each one of them living a long time, but about the Israelites’ permanent possession of the Promised Land.

Which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them: see 1.8.

As long as the heavens are above the earth: that is, forever, for all time to come. The Promised Land is to belong to the people of Israel forever. Many languages will use “sky” instead of heavens (see also Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version).

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 last part of verse 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 .

Anything that dies of itself: the reason for this law, forbidding the eating of any animal that “dies a natural death” (Good News Translation), is that the animal’s blood had not been properly drained out, so that anyone who ate such an animal would be eating blood, which was strictly forbidden (see 12.15, 22-27; Exo 22.31). Such an animal was ritually unclean.

In this case, however, the dead animal could be eaten by the alien who is within your towns, that is, a foreigner who lived permanently among the Israelites (see 1.16). Or it could be sold to a foreigner, that is, some foreigner who might be traveling through the Israelite community. Contemporary English Version expresses this quite clearly with “You may give it to foreigners who live in your town, or sell it to foreigners who are visiting your town.”

A people holy to the LORD your God: see 7.6; 14.2.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk: for this law see also Exo 23.19; 34.26. Here a kid is the young either of a sheep or a goat; consequently Good News Translation has “a young sheep or goat.” It is thought by some that this was a Canaanite custom and thus abhorrent to the Israelites; but the evidence for such a Canaanite rite is far from conclusive.

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 .