Pass over the Jordan: that is, cross the river from the east side to the west side.

The land which the LORD your God gives you: a recurring statement (see 26.1).

Set up large stones: the text does not say how many stones; since all the words of this law (verse 3) were to be written on them, many would be required. Good News Translation has “some large stones.”

Plaster them with plaster: this would make it possible to write the laws on the stones, instead of having to carve them. Some suggest that this plaster was more in the nature of what is now called “whitewash” (New International Version). Whitewashing seems to have been practiced in Egypt. Contemporary English Version has “white plaster.” Other ways to express plaster them with plaster are “take lime and daub [or, cover] it over the stones,” or in cultures where lime or plaster are unknown, we may say “cover them with a white substance.”

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 .