The statement love you, bless you, and multiply you is fairly simple and easy to understand. To bless is to cause good things to happen, to bestow benefits on, or “cause you to prosper”; multiply means to cause to increase in number.

The fruit of your body: here body represents the ability to have children, and fruit means offspring or children. Multiply you and bless the fruit of your body have the same meaning, so we may combine the two clauses and say, for example, “He will cause you to prosper by giving you many children.”

The fruit of your ground: this is a promise of abundant crops, as follows: grain (wheat and barley), wine (grapevines, vineyards), oil (olive trees, the oil being derived from olives). Wine is a fermented drink made from grapes (see also 6.1 for wine and “olives”).

Your cattle and the young of your flock: in this context cattle refers to bulls and cows, and flock to goats and sheep. See similar lists in 11.14; 12.17; 14.23. In some languages this sentence will be expressed something like “Your herds of animals named ‘cow’ will have many babies [offspring]. So also will your animals named ‘sheep’ and ‘goat.’ ”

For in the land which he swore …, see 1.8.

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 .

You shall be blessed above …: this may be expressed by the active voice, “The LORD your God will bless you more than any other people,” or “The LORD your God will make you more prosperous [or, have more things] than….”

There shall not be male or female barren among you: barren means inability for a male to beget, or for a female to bear children. In some languages two different words may be required. New Revised Standard Version has “neither sterility nor barrenness,” Revised English Bible “an impotent male or a barren female.”

Your cattle: this is livestock in general (see 2.35), not only cows as in the previous verse. In some languages, speaking about animals being barren may require different words from those used for people.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• God will cause you to prosper more than any other people. No male among you or your animals will be impotent and no female will be sterile.

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 .

Take away from you all sickness: this does not only mean that God will heal them from their illnesses, but that he will not allow them to get sick. Revised English Bible “will keep you free from all sickness” or Good News Translation “will protect you from all sicknesses” are better than Revised Standard Version.

None of the evil diseases of Egypt: this is the negative counterpart of the blessings: “he will not inflict on you any of the evil diseases of Egypt.” These diseases are probably the plagues (so New Jerusalem Bible “evil plagues”); most translations use the more general “dreadful diseases” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Good News Translation) or “terrible diseases” (New International Version). Some of the most common diseases in Egypt included skin diseases, boils, eye infections, bowel dysfunctions. God will keep his people free from such diseases and will inflict them (lay them) upon their enemies.

Which you knew: this does not mean that the Israelites themselves had experienced these diseases (as Good News Translation translates), but that they knew about them (“about which you know,” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The Septuagint has “which you saw and knew.”

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 .

You shall destroy all: the Israelites are commanded, again, to wipe out their enemies. The Hebrew verb here is “to eat,” meaning here to consume, to destroy. God will deliver the enemy into their power (see verse 2).

Your eye shall not pity them: they are to show no mercy as they exterminate them.

There follows a final warning against idolatry: neither shall you serve their gods.

A snare to you: this trap into which they will be caught, like a wild animal, will deprive them of their freedom and eventually kill them. So we may translate “Don’t worship their gods; it would be like letting yourselves be caught in a trap.” The two clauses may also be combined; for example, “Don’t get trapped into worshiping other gods” or “Don’t let your hearts deceive you into worshiping and serving other gods.”

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 .

Verses 17-19 are one long sentence, which should be broken up into shorter ones, as Good News Translation does.

Besides Good News Translation, Revised English Bible offers a good model for verse 17: “You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations outnumber us; how can we drive them out?’ ”

If you say in your heart: that is, “say to yourself” or “think.” Hebrew here is singular, but most languages will use plural, referring to all the people. Other ways to express this are “Do not tell yourselves” (Good News Translation), or “You may be thinking … But stop worrying!” (Contemporary English Version).

Greater than I: this means more numerous, more powerful (see 1.28).

Dispossess: this means to expel or drive out.

Contemporary English Version has a helpful model for this verse:

• You may be thinking, “How can we destroy these nations? They are more powerful than we are.” But stop worrying!

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 .

The people are told that they must recall what God had done to the king of Egypt and all the other Egyptians when he took the Israelites out of there.

The verb form of you shall remember is emphatic: “you must always remember and never forget.” Such remembrance will cause the Israelites to lose their fear of the peoples of Canaan, as they invade the land. Remember may also be expressed as “bring to mind,” “recall,” and so on.

Pharaoh: see 6.22.

All Egypt: this could mean the land, but more likely it means the people, “all the Egyptians.” So Good News Translation has “to the king of Egypt and all his people.” We may also say “to all the people of Egypt and their king.”

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 .

This verse lists the events the Israelites witnessed in Egypt, all of them referring to the plagues God sent on the land and the people.

The great trials: here trials means “sufferings” or “ordeals,” referring to the plagues (see Good News Translation).

Which your eyes saw: Good News Translation has “that you saw with your own eyes.” They had been eyewitnesses of all the plagues.

The signs, the wonders: see 4.24.

The mighty hand, and the outstretched arm: see 4.34.

So will the LORD your God do: God will send on the peoples of Canaan the same disasters he sent on the Egyptians. So Good News Translation has “In the same way that he destroyed the Egyptians” (see New Revised Standard Version “The LORD your God will do the same…”).

All the peoples of whom you are afraid: see the list in verse 1.

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 .

Hornets: it is not certain what this means. The word appears also in Exo 23.28 (where it is parallel with “my terror” in verse 27) and in Josh 24.12. Good News Translation has “send panic” (similarly Contemporary English Version) with alternative renderings. “Panic” suggests a sudden fear or desire to run away because of being terrified. BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum has “a great terror”; New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “a plague”; the New Jewish Version, “a plague,” with a footnote: “meaning of Heb uncertain”; Revised English Bible “will spread panic.” New Revised Standard Version “the pestilence” is hard to understand. Whatever the disaster, the people who had been able to hide and escape being slaughtered by the Israelites will be killed by it.

Translators are urged to follow Good News Translation, giving alternatives in a footnote. It is also possible to restructure the verse as follows:

• They may try to escape from you by hiding, but Yahweh will cause them to be filled with terror [panic] and will kill them all.

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 .