Then the elders will pray, asking Yahweh to forgive the people. In some languages it will be helpful to begin this verse as follows: “Then the elders will pray to Yahweh, saying, ‘….’ ” But it is possible also to understand everything the elders say (beginning with “Our hands did not shed this blood” in verse 7) as a prayer. In this case verse 8 will follow without any break, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

Forgive: or “Absolve” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or even “Expiate” (see Revised English Bible “Accept expiation”; New International Version “Accept this atonement”). But it seems best to use the more common and understandable term, Forgive (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Bible en français courant). Forgive is a difficult term to translate in many languages. Examples from a variety of languages that may be helpful to translators are “throw away sin,” “cover over sin,” “forget sin,” and so on. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark, page 13, gives many more useful examples. Other ways to translate Forgive, O LORD, thy people Israel are “Yahweh, please forgive your people, Israel,” or “Yahweh, please forget the sin of the people of Israel. We are your people.”

Whom thou hast redeemed: this refers back to the liberation from Egypt (the Septuagint includes “from the land of Egypt” in its translation). So Good News Translation has “rescued from Egypt.”

Set not … in the midst of thy people Israel: “do not hold your people Israel responsible,” or “please don’t hold us responsible.”

The guilt of innocent blood: that is, “the responsibility for the death [or, murder] of an innocent person.”

Let the guilt of blood be forgiven them: using the same verb used at the beginning of the prayer. Translators need to decide whether this repetition is good style in their language or not. Good News Translation doesn’t repeat this sentence, but Contemporary English Version makes a separate sentence, with “Please don’t hold this crime against us.” We may also make the meaning of guilt of blood or “crime” clear with “Please don’t hold us responsible for murdering [or, killing] this person.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Then the elders will pray to Yahweh, saying, “Please forgive the people of Israel. We are your people, and you rescued us from Egypt. Please don’t hold us responsible for killing this innocent person.”

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 .