You shall cut off her hand: the proper authorities are to make the decision. It is pointed out that only here (besides the “law of retaliation” ruling in 19.21) is mutilation prescribed as appropriate punishment.

Your eye shall have no pity: the same phrase used in 19.21.

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 the curse: this may be rendered as “to listen to the curses” or “to hear how Yahweh will punish people.” Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje rearranges the verse: “The curses will be pronounced from Mount Ebal, and there the following tribes will stand:….” For a comment on curse see 11.26. Or the full sentence may be alternatively rendered as “The tribes of … will go up and stand on Mount Ebal, where they will listen to the curses [or, hear how Yahweh will punish people].”

The six tribes on Mount Ebal, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali, have the names of sons of Leah (Reuben and Zebulun), of Bilhah, Rachel’s slave (Dan and Naphtali), and of Zilpah, Leah’s slave (Gad and Asher); see Gen 35.22-26. All of these tribes had their territory in the north of Israel or on the east side of the Jordan.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali will go up on Mount Ebal, where they will hear how Yahweh will punish people.

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 first part of this verse states the opposite of verse 7; the Israelites will be defeated by their enemies, and not the other way round.

Go out … against them: that is, march out from their towns and go to war against their enemies.

You shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth: that is, all the people of the world will be horrified at what will happen to the Israelites (see verse 37; see also Jer 15.4; 24.9). New Jerusalem Bible has “a terrifying object lesson,” Good News Translation “will be terrified when they see what happens to you,” and Contemporary English Version “a horrible sight for…”; or we may say “when the other nations on earth see what happens to you, they will be terrified.”

All the kingdoms of the earth: a way of saying “all the people in the world.”

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 .

No ease: that is, no peace or security, no safety (see 3.20; 12.9).

No rest for the sole of your foot: no permanent residence, no place to call their own.

A trembling heart: fear or anxiety.

Failing eyes: this seems to mean blindness, which does not fit in with the other two expressions in this group; perhaps it means a loss of hope and cheerfulness (Good News Translation has “hopelessness”).

A languishing soul: despair, discouragement (see 6.9).

Good News Translation offers a good model for all three expressions: “anxiety, hopelessness, and despair.”

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, Moses should be reintroduced as the speaker.

Verses 1-3 are one long sentence in Revised Standard Version, which must be broken into smaller units. See Good News Translation for a helpful model.

When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse: Moses looks to the future, when the people of Israel will have experienced all the blessings and curses promised in chapter 28. The blessing may be translated as “the good things he will do for you.” The curse may be rendered as “how he will punish you if you reject him,” or “the punishments he will bring upon you if….” But see the comments on curse at 11.26.

Which I have set before you: throughout this chapter Moses is the speaker. Moses has listed the blessings and the curses, and the Israelites are to choose between them. It will be helpful in a number of languages to reorder the first part of the verse, as shown in the alternative translation model given at the end.

And you call them to mind: Good News Translation has restructured the sentence for greater clarity, placing this clause at the end of the verse and rendering “you will remember the choice I gave you.”

Among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you: this is a reference to exile, here spoken of as exile in various foreign countries. The verb “drive” is used in this sense only here in Deuteronomy; it appears quite frequently in Jeremiah. It means “to scatter,” as in “He will scatter you in faraway countries” (Contemporary English Version). For “scattered” see 4.27.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Moses said to the Israelites: “I am now letting you choose between two things: the good things that Yahweh will do for you or the punishments that he will bring upon you if you reject him. When all these things that I have told you about happen to you, and you are living in faraway countries where the LORD your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave 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 verse is a summarizing conclusion, using terms and expressions of the previous verses.

I will surely hide: this translates the emphatic Hebrew phrase, the double use of the verb, meaning “I will refuse to help them” (Good News Translation), or “I will pay no attention to them.”

Because they have turned to other gods: this is precisely the evil that they have done; so New Revised Standard Version says “by turning to other gods.” To “turn” to other gods is to abandon Yahweh in order to worship and serve them. So it is possible to express this as “Because they have abandoned me and started worshiping other [or, false] gods.”

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 the open in the first line is balanced by in the chambers in the second. The meaning is “both outdoors, in the streets of the towns, and indoors, in their houses.”

The sword shall bereave: that is, enemy warriors will kill them. There is no indication what the term terror refers to here (see Isa 24.17). But as a parallel to the sword, terror probably refers to the enemies as they invade the homes and strike terror in the hearts of their victims. But the word may refer to the terror the people feel, and which would cause them to die (so Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Contemporary English Version). So we may say “Outdoors your enemies will kill you, and indoors you will be so frightened that you will die.”

The overall meaning is that everyone will be killed: young men and women, children and old people. The translator need not try to find the exact equivalent of virgin or the man of gray hairs; these are ways of speaking of young women and old people.

The clauses of the verse may be reordered as follows:

• Young men and women,
babies and old people
will be killed in the streets,
and die from fright in their homes.

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 .