Stirred me to jealousy: see verse 16; this is parallel with they have provoked me, or “made me angry” (see 31.29).

What is no god: see verse 17; this is parallel with their idols in the next line. The Good News Translation rendering “so-called gods” is difficult to translate. Something like “worthless and false gods” will be easier.

I will stir them to jealousy … I will provoke them: God will do to his people exactly what they have done to him—a perfect payback. Two alternative ways of combining these first two lines are:

• You worshiped worthless idols
and made me jealous and angry.
You made me jealous and angry
because you worshiped worthless idols
which are not gods at all.

Those who are no people: this is the counterpart of what is no god. God will use nations and peoples who are inferior and who do not merit the name “people”; instead they are a foolish nation (see verse 6). See Paul’s use of this verse in Rom 10.19. Those who are no people and a foolish nation refer to the same nation, not to two different nations. It will be helpful in some languages to combine the two lines as follows:

• Now I will send a nation of worthless and stupid people to make you jealous and angry.

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 .