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 .