I will write: see 5.22.

The words that were on the first tables: the words are the ten commandments (see verse 4), as they were on the earlier occasion (see 9.10). However, translators are urged to use a more general translation here, such as “the same words” (Contemporary English Version), or “what I wrote” (Good News Translation).

Which you broke: see 9.17.

Put them in the ark: “put them in the Box” (Good News Translation), or “put these stones in the chest” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .

Acacia wood: the Hebrew is “shittim [wood],” a word that appears in the place-name “Abel-shittim” (Num 33.49), which, for obvious reasons, Good News Translation translates “Acacia Valley.” It was a durable wood, brownish orange in color, and these trees are still found in that part of the world. Where the acacia tree is unknown, we may say, for example, “wood from the tree called ‘acacia,’ ” and then, when the term appears again, leave out the phrase “tree called.” It will also be helpful to include a note in the Glossary describing this tree.

Like the first: exactly like the first two stone tablets, which God had made.

In my hand: the normal way of saying this in English is “in my hands” (New International Version, Revised English Bible); or else we may use the verb “holding…” or “carrying [the two tablets].”

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 .

And he wrote …, as at the first writing: an alternative model is “There [on the mountain] the LORD wrote the Ten Commandments on them, just as he had done the first time.”

On the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly: see the same language in 9.10.

The LORD gave them to me: that is, the two stone tablets, not the ten commandments.

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 turned and came down from the mountain: this can be expressed more naturally, “I came back down” (New International Version, Revised English Bible), or even “I took them down the mountainside” (Contemporary English Version).

And there they are: Moses is saying that the two stone tablets are still in the Box, where he had placed them some forty years earlier. Good News Translation has “and they have been there ever since”; Contemporary English Version has “and they are still there.”

As the LORD commanded me: this could go at the beginning of the sentence, “As the LORD commanded me, I placed the tablets….” For the LORD see 1.6.

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 .

They journeyed: it is better to make it clear that “the Israelites journeyed [or, traveled].” The itinerary in Num 33.32-33 does not mention Gudgodah; perhaps it is the same as “Hor-haggidgad.” However, Gudgodah should be used here.

A land with brooks of water: that is, “a land with many streams,” “a land with much water,” or “a well-watered place” (Good News Translation).

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 .

Levi … his brothers: this is a way of speaking of the tribe of Levi, the people of the tribe of Levi, as compared with the people of the other tribes. So Good News Translation “That is why the tribe of Levi….”

No portion or inheritance: these two nouns mean the same thing. They are variously translated; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “no hereditary portion,” and Revised English Bible “no holding of ancestral land.” This refers to the area of land assigned to each tribe; only the tribe of Levi was not assigned any land. In cultures where tribes or clans still exist, the idea of “ancestral land” will translate naturally. In other languages, however, we must say something like “received no land as the other tribes did” (Good News Translation).

The LORD is his inheritance: instead of supporting themselves from the land that would have been assigned to them, the Levites’ support came from their work as priests of Yahweh (see Good News Translation). Bible en français courant has “the privilege of serving the LORD”; Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje “the right of the men of the tribe of Levi to serve as priests of God.”

As the LORD your God said to him: see Num 18.20, where God said this to Aaron. Here him, meaning Levi, should be translated as a plural pronoun, since it does not mean that God said this to Levi, son of Jacob, but to the Levites as a tribe. For the LORD your God see 1.6.

If verses 6-9 are not treated as two separate sections (see note at verse 6), then this verse should be closed with a parenthesis, and a new paragraph should begin with verse 10.

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 .

Now comes the command to cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land of Canaan, which the LORD had promised the patriarchs he would give to their descendants (see 1.8).

Go on your journey at the head of the people: this makes it sound like Moses will lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, whereas he died in Moab without crossing the Jordan into the land of Canaan. Good News Translation has “Then he told me to go and lead you…”; and Contemporary English Version has, “Instead he told me, ‘Moses, get ready to lead the people….’ ” These are both possible alternatives to Revised Standard Version.

For possess the land and 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 .

To keep the commandments and the statutes of the LORD: see 4.40.

This day: again the time signal is given; all this is taking place just before they are to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.

For your good: meaning the same as “it may go well with you” in 4.40.

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 .