Do not say in your heart: see 8.17.

After the LORD your God has thrust them out before you: the verb here means “expel,” “drive out,” the same as in verse 3. Good News Translation “driven them out for you” is not quite right; it should be “as you advance.”

It is because of my righteousness: see 6.25. Here the plural form would be more natural, since this is the statement of the people, not of an individual. The word righteousness here means “good conduct” and is well translated by Good News Translation “because we deserve it” (also Bible en français courant); New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “because of our virtues” is possible; Revised English Bible “because of our merits” is better, or even “because we are such good people.”

The LORD has brought me in to possess this land: this statement occurs over and over again. Here the point of view is the land of Canaan itself, so that brought … in is correct; for possess see 1.8; 2.12.

The wickedness of these nations: Yahweh is enabling the Israelites to conquer the land of Canaan because the pagan peoples who live there are wicked; we may say “they do wrong” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “are evil people.”

Driving them out before you: this is a phrase that occurs often and is repeated in the next verse.

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 .

Not because of your righteousness (as in verse 4) or the uprightness of your heart: this second qualification has to do with right moral and spiritual attitudes, as contrasted with right conduct. Revised English Bible and New International Version use “integrity”; something like “It is not because you are a good [or, moral] people” gives the meaning of the phrase.

Confirm the word: this refers to God’s promise (see 8.18).

The LORD swore to your fathers: 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 .

Verse 6 summarizes what is said in verse 4-5, and adds the final comment: you are a stubborn people. The Hebrew phrase rendered stubborn is “stiff-necked,” used always of people (see 9.13; 10.16; 31.27; also Acts 7.51). It indicates their unwillingness to obey God’s commands. In some languages this will be rendered with figurative expressions; for example, “hard-necked,” “hard-hearted,” or “bone-hearted.”

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 .

Even at Horeb: this refers to their experiences at Mount Sinai (see 1.2). So we may express this as “Even when we [inclusive] were at Mount Sinai you….”

You provoked the LORD to wrath: as in verse 7.

For so angry see 1.34 and 1.37.

The LORD was … ready to destroy you: the same as in verse 3.

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 .

Here Moses recounts what is found in Exo 24.12-18; 31.18.

The tables of stone, the tables of the covenant: New Revised Standard Version and all other modern translations use today’s English, “stone tablets” (and see 4.13). The tables of the covenant may be expanded to say “the tablets on which the covenant was written.” If it is natural in the translator’s language, it is good to keep the author’s style, repeating the two phrases, and not collapse the two into one, “the stone tablets on which the covenant had been written.” Bible en français courant uses the expression “the document of the covenant.” For covenant see 4.13. The ten commandments were the terms of the covenant.

I neither ate bread nor drank water: something like “I went without food or water [during those forty days]” or “I didn’t eat or drink a thing” expresses the meaning in a natural form. The reader should understand that Moses willingly did without food or water, not that he was in a situation where food and water were not available.

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 .

Arise, go down quickly from here: Moses had been lying down on his face (in a prone position), not doing a thing during the forty days. An alternative model is “Get up and hurry down the mountain.”

Your people whom you have brought out of Egypt: here Yahweh is saying that Moses is responsible for the people. The sense of your people is that Moses was their leader, he was in charge of them.

Have acted corruptly: this accuses the people of committing a terrible sin, that is, building a metal idol in the shape of a calf. See the comment at 4.16.

Turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: the Israelites had quickly disobeyed God and acted contrary to his commands. Other ways to express this are “they have already disobeyed what I commanded them” or “they have already stopped obeying me.” But we may also keep the figurative language; for example, “They have quickly left the path that I commanded them to walk on.”

A molten image: in most languages the phrase “metal image” will be the one to use. To indicate that it was made by the process of smelting metal ore and shaping the metal into the figure of a calf may be difficult; “cast metal” is the normal phrase in English (New International Version “a cast idol”).

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 .

I have seen this people: God is saying that he has been watching how the people acted during the forty years. This people uses the singular this, since the word people is singular in form, but “these people” (Good News Translation) sounds better in English. Translators need to use the form that is the most natural in their language. We may avoid this problem, however, by saying something like “I have been watching the Israelites” (Contemporary English Version).

And behold: see 1.10. Something like “and it is clear that” or “and I know that” would be good ways of translating the phrase.

A stubborn people: as in verse 6.

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 .