You returned: presumably to their camp at Kadesh Barnea. Contemporary English Version has “Then you came back to the place of worship at Kadesh-Barnea.”

And wept before the LORD: this seems to indicate a religious service in which the Israelites poured out to God their grief and anguish. Good News Translation has “cried out to the LORD for help.” A note of repentance or sorrow for their sin may be understood; but the statement that Yahweh did not respond indicates that they were asking for help, so we may say “wept asking the LORD for help” or “cried out to the LORD to help you.”

The LORD did not hearken to your voice or give ear to you: this literal translation is not current English. The two verbal expressions mean the same: “the LORD didn’t listen to your cries, he paid no attention to you,” or “but the LORD would not pay any attention to you.”

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 command the people may be also expressed as “He told me to give you the following instructions:…” (Good News Translation), or “And give the people these orders:…” (Contemporary English Version).

You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren the sons of Esau: the Israelites, proceeding north, would go through Edom, where the descendants of Esau lived. These sons of Esau were a kindred race; in English “kindred” (New Revised Standard Version) or “distant relatives” (Good News Translation) is the best way to express the meaning. Seir is Edom (1.2). An alternative translation model for this sentence may be “You will very soon walk [or, travel] through the hill country of Edom. It is the land that belongs to your distant relatives, the descendants of Esau.” For “descendants” see 1.8.

They will be afraid of you: the relation between this statement and what follows is not clear. If the Edomites were afraid of the Israelites, why should the Israelites be careful not to fight them? Revised English Bible provides a good answer by translating “Although they are afraid of you, be very careful not to quarrel with them…” (also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). And the adversative “but” used in Good News Translation, “… but you must not start a war with” (also Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), is another way to handle the matter. Either one makes for a good translation.

So take good heed: this means to be careful, to not act rashly, and goes with what follows: “so be careful not to attack them.” New Revised Standard Version has “be very careful not to engage in battle with them.”

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 .

Do not contend with them: the Hebrew verb is different from the one used in 1.30, but in this context it has essentially the same meaning: wage war against, fight, attack.

For I will not …: the reason the Israelites are not to fight the Edomites—even though the Edomites are afraid of them—is that Yahweh will not allow the Israelites to win.

The exaggerated figure not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on is better rendered in English by “not … so much as a square foot” (Good News Translation) or, even more idiomatically, “not even an inch [of their land].” New International Version has “not even enough to put your foot on.”

I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession: another way to express this is “I have given the region [or, territory] of Edom to the descendants of Esau as their own land.” Mount Seir is the hill-country region of Seir, better known as Edom. So it may be better here to say “Edom.” (See Gen 36.6-8 for an account of Esau’s separating from Jacob to settle in Edom.) To use simply the proper name Esau here (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Jerusalem Bible) is to raise unnecessary difficulties for the reader. The active I have given must not be disregarded, as done by Biblia Dios Habla Hoy.

It should be noted that the same language is used of Edom being the God-given heritage of the Edomites as is used of Canaan being the heritage of the Israelites.

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 Israelites are neither to antagonize the Edomites nor ask for their help.

Purchase food … for money … buy water … for money: the equivalent of this statement in natural English is given by Good News Translation, where the common verb “buy” is used of the food and the water; most translations use two verbs, “to purchase” and “to buy,” but this is not necessary if a single verb will be good style. The use in English of for money is unnecessarily repetitive, but in some languages this repetition may be quite natural and should be retained.

It will be helpful for many translators to express this verse as follows:

• As you walk through their land, you may buy food and water.

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 .

In this verse Yahweh reassures the people. Yahweh has never let the people go without food and water, or other basic necessities.

The LORD your God has blessed you: the second person pronoun in Hebrew is singular; the Israelites are addressed as though they are one person. But the you may be changed in translation to “us” (inclusive); for example, “Yahweh caused us to be successful [or, prosper] ….” Blessed in English has become a religious cliche with no precise meaning. Unfortunately many modern translations still use it (for example, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version). Here the term means to “cause to prosper” or “make successful” (see also 1.11).

All the work of your hands: this is better as expressed by New Revised Standard Version “all your undertakings,” or Good News Translation “everything you have done.” The two clauses may be expressed as “Yahweh our [inclusive] God has caused us to be successful in everything that we have done.”

He knows your going through this great wilderness: this is more naturally expressed “He knows what happened to you as you went through that vast wilderness.” The following phrase, these forty years, may be included: “He knows what happened to you during the forty years you were wandering around in that vast wilderness.” Again the you may be changed to “us” and “we.” Revised English Bible “He has watched over your journey” is possible following “During all that time…,” since the Hebrew verb “to know” means in places “to take an interest in,” “to care for” (see Gen 39.6; Psa 1.6). So Good News Translation has “He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert,” and Contemporary English Version has “The LORD has helped us and taken care of us during the past forty years that we have been in this huge desert.”

The LORD your God has been with you: see “[not] in your midst” in 1.42.

You have lacked nothing: this can be expressed in a positive way, as in Good News Translation, “You have had everything you needed.”

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 .

So we went on, away from our brethren: this may mean that the Israelites departed, leaving behind the Edomites (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible); or it may mean, more precisely, “So we passed by our kin” (New Revised Standard Version; also Revised English Bible “So we went on past our kinsmen”; also Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Bible en français courant). It is difficult to determine which meaning is intended. The Hebrew text is not at all clear, and it appears to embody an inconsistency. It seems to say that the Israelites bypassed Edom (see verse 1), even though the verb used is one that means ordinarily “to go through” (as in 2.4); it is not the verb that normally means “to go around” (see 2.3). But with the verb goes the preposition “from” (as in Num 20.21), which makes the Hebrew say that the Israelites avoided going through Edom. So Contemporary English Version has “We went past the territory that belonged to our relatives, the descendants of Esau.” This is what the Hebrew seems to mean, and is recommended to the translator; but the other meaning “went away from” is also possible.

Our brethren the sons of Esau who live in Seir: as in verse 4. It is difficult to know why Good News Translation has omitted this bit of information; perhaps it was regarded as unnecessarily repetitive.

Away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber: the Hebrew here is also unclear, and the translations vary. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is quite literal but makes sense: “away from the road of the Arabah, away from Elath and Ezion-geber.” Bible en français courant is similar: “We also avoided the road of the Arabah and the sites of Elath and Ezion-geber.” Good News Translation‘s “So we moved on and left the road that goes from the towns of…” is a possible rendering of the Hebrew text. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is even freer: “So we went northward through the territory of our kinspeople, the descendants of Esau, but did not use the road that goes from Ezion-geber and Elath through the Arabah to the Dead Sea.”

We turned and went: this may be stated more naturally, “We resumed our journey,” “We kept on going.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “We marched on in the direction of….” As Good News Translation makes clear, Moab was to the north (see map, page xii).

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 .

Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle: the meaning is clear enough, but the English is not natural. Revised English Bible is better, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to battle,” or we may say “Do not cause trouble for the people of Moab or make them fight you.” In this context “to harass” means to bother or molest by unprovoked attacks, verbal or physical.

Ar was the capital of Moab (see verse 18; Num 22.36); here it stands for the whole country. This is why Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation translate as Moab.

The sons of Lot are Lot’s descendants, the Moabites (Gen 19.37). This final sentence in some languages may seem to indicate that the sons of Lot are a different people from “the people of Moab.” In such a case we may place this phrase immediately after Moab; for example, “Don’t … with the people of Moab. They are the descendants of Lot, and I have given them…,” or even “The people of Moab are the descendants of Lot, so don’t harass them or make them fight you.”

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 .