And he declared to you: “And he announced to you,” “And he told you about…,” or “He told you what you must do to keep….”

His covenant: “the covenant he was about to make with you.” The very important word covenant appears first in Gen 6.18 and occurs twenty-nine times in Deuteronomy. A translation should use the same word to translate the Hebrew berith and the Greek diathēkē used in the New Testament; by the time Deuteronomy is translated in a given language, it is most likely that a satisfactory word will have been found that can be used throughout the Bible. Covenant means, generally, an alliance, agreement, pact, treaty, or often a contract in writing. The translator must be aware of the different senses of the word when used in a context of commercial enterprises or military alliances; these other senses may very well make an otherwise satisfactory word unsuitable for its use of the covenant that God describes and offers to his people, the focus being on God’s promise.

In places where the Bible has already been translated, and the word for covenant is already part of the religious vocabulary of church people, it may be that a different word will not be accepted. In such a case it will be helpful to include a Glossary note, like the one in Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje:
A treaty made by God with his people. This treaty (alliance, pact, contract) was the following: the Eternal was the God of Israel, and Israel was the people of the Eternal God. God blessed the people, and they, in turn, obeyed God.

Another way to render this clause is “He told you that he was making an agreement [or, contract] with you.”

Which he commanded us to perform: the Hebrew verb “to do” governs both his covenant and the ten commandments, since “the ten words” are the covenant. But in many languages two different verbs will have to be used for the two objects: “keep the covenant” and “obey the ten words.” It is also possible to express this as “He told you that in order for you to keep the agreement you must obey [or, follow] the Ten Commandments.”

The ten commandments: as the Revised Standard Version note indicates, the Hebrew noun normally means “words.” But in this context translators are urged to use “Ten Commandments,” as there were actually more than ten Hebrew words.

And he wrote them upon two tables of stone: better, “… two stone tablets” (New Revised Standard Version), or even “two flat stones” (Contemporary English Version). The verb wrote may have to be translated “carved,” “cut into,” or “inscribed.” All the “ten words” were inscribed on each of the two tablets, in keeping with the customs of the time. (Each party to a treaty received one tablet, which would be kept in their sanctuary.) In the case of Israel, the sanctuary of Yahweh and that of the people was one and the same, so both tablets were kept there together in the sacred box. (Exo 40.20).

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 .