It will be helpful at this point to introduce Moses again as the speaker; for example, “Moses said to the people….”

If you obey the voice of the LORD your God: Hebrew has the compound “[if] obeying you obey,” to make the statement more emphatic; this is expressed in BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum as “If you really obey,” and in Contemporary English Version as “If you completely obey.”

Being careful to do: an expression often used (see 27.16).

All his commandments which I command you this day: see 27.1.

Set you high above all the nations of the earth: see 26.19.

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 .

All these blessings: in this context a blessing is something good that is given by God. So we may also translate as “Yahweh your God will give you all these good things.”

Come upon you and overtake you: this vivid language portrays the blessings as living and active; for the second verb New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “and take effect,” and Revised English Bible “and light on you.” Perhaps something like “come and remain with you” or “will always be yours” will be satisfactory in many languages. The first sentence may then be expressed as “Yahweh your God will give you all these good things, and they will always be yours.”

If you obey: it may be better to place this clause at the beginning of the verse, as Good News Translation does, or even combine the two instances of if you obey in verses 1 and 2 as follows:

• Moses said to the people of Israel: “Today I am giving you the commands of Yahweh, the God you worship. If you completely obey them, he will make you greater than any of the other nations on earth. He will also give you all these good things, and they will always be yours.

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 .

Blessed shall you be: in Hebrew the participle “blessed [be]” appears six times in verses 3-6; this is balanced in verses 16-19, in which the participle “cursed [be]” also appears six times. This is more apparent in Revised Standard Version than in Good News Translation, and it is recommended that a translation preserve this stylistic feature if it reads naturally. Other ways of saying Blessed shall you be are “A blessing on” (Revised English Bible), “You will be blessed” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version), “The LORD will bless you” (Good News Translation), or “The LORD will make you prosper [or, be successful].”

In the city … in the field: these were the places where the Israelites worked; so something like “wherever you work” or “everywhere you work,” or even “in your businesses and farms,” may be more satisfactory than the literal rendering of the Hebrew idiom (see a similar idiom in 6.7).

The Contemporary English Version model is a good alternative one:

• The LORD will make your businesses and your farms successful.

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 .

Blessed shall be: or “The LORD will cause you to have [or, give you] many….”

The fruit of your body: meaning children, descendants, offspring.

The fruit of your ground: that is “abundant crops” (Good News Translation).

The fruit of your beasts: this refers to cattle and other domesticated animals. So Good News Translation has “many cattle and sheep.”

The increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock: this double phrase is an explanation of the fruit of your beasts; so New Revised Standard Version has “the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.” The use of fruit as the offspring of animals is not natural English, but in a number of other languages it will be natural style. In English New International Version is better: “… the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.” For the whole expression Contemporary English Version has “and your herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats will produce many young.”

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 .

Your basket: this was a utensil for storing grain at home (see “basket” in 26.4).

Your kneading-trough: a wide, shallow bowl in which the housewife mixed the flour and other ingredients to make bread (see Exo 12.34).

Both objects in this verse are ways of referring to their contents: grain and bread, with bread representing food in general.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• The LORD will cause you to have abundant grain and much food to eat.

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 .

When you come in … when you go out: this means “in all your activities [or, ventures],” “at home and at work,” or even “through the whole of life” (see this idiom in verse 19; 31.2; Psa 121.8; Isa 37.28). So Contemporary English Version says “The LORD will make you successful in everything you do.”

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 .

Your enemies who rise up against you: this seems to indicate that the enemies are attacking; so New Jerusalem Bible has “The enemies who attack you….” For a comment on enemies see 1.42.

The LORD will cause … to be defeated before you: that is, Yahweh will defeat them. Bible en français courant says “the LORD will give you victory over them,” and New Jerusalem Bible “Yahweh will defeat before your eyes.” The text may mean either that Yahweh will defeat the enemy by himself, or else that Yahweh will give the Israelites victory over them; the second meaning seems preferable.

They shall come … one way, and flee … seven ways: the enemy will attack as a disciplined body of troops marching together, but then will flee in disarray in all directions. Seven represents totality: “in all directions” (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 .

Command the blessing upon you in your barns: this refers to the contents of the barns, that is, grain and other crops. Another way to express this is “give you so much grain that your barns [or, storage places] will be full.”

In all that you undertake: that is, in all the work the Israelites do.

In the land which the LORD your God gives you: a repetition of this familiar refrain in Deuteronomy.

An alternative translation model for this verse may be:

• Yahweh will make you prosper in the land that he is giving you. You will be successful in everything you do. You will have so much grain that your barns will be full.

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 .