The accusations and denunciations in verses 16-21 reveal that that very same generation, the very people Moses will teach the song to (verse 19), will forsake Yahweh, break the covenant, and will be punished by Yahweh as soon as they cross the Jordan and settle in Canaan.

You are about to sleep with your fathers: this is a Hebrew idiom for dying, the thought being that the dead person will join his or her ancestors in Sheol. There may be some languages in which this idea will sound natural, but English is not one of them. Revised English Bible is probably the best attempt in English: “you are about to die and join your forefathers.” But even this will not sound natural to many readers. BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum does the same: “You are going to die, you are going to join your ancestors.” In many languages the best translation will be one in which the normal term or expression for dying is used. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have done a good job of restructuring, with all the information included: “You will soon die….”

Will rise and play the harlot after strange gods: again the idiom play the harlot is not a natural one; the meaning is to forsake God, likening this act to a married person who leaves his or her spouse and goes off after lovers (see 4.25-28; Exo 34.15-16). So Good News Translation has “the people will become unfaithful to me,” and Contemporary English Version translates “the people will reject me.”

Strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them: strange gods are foreign gods, the gods of pagans. The Canaanites had their own gods, and for the Israelites to live in Canaan meant to live with the Canaanite gods. For gods see 4.28.

Forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them: see verse 6 for forsake.

It will be helpful for many translators to restructure this verse. The following is a possible alternative model:

• The LORD said to Moses, “You will soon die, and the Israelites will be going into a land where the inhabitants worship other gods. So after you die they will reject [or, be unfaithful to] me and will start worshiping these false gods. In this way they will break the agreement I made 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 .

My anger will be kindled against them: see 29.20, 23, 27-28.

Hide my face from them: that is, God will not look on them with love and concern; he will, in effect, withdraw his help from them (see the figure in Psa 13.1; 27.9).

They will be devoured: this means they will be destroyed by God’s anger, which will “eat” them up.

Many evils and troubles will come upon them: such as famines, droughts, epidemics, and hostile enemies. Translators should use a general statement; for example, “Many terrible disasters will come upon them” (Good News Translation), or “I will send disasters and sufferings that…” (Contemporary English Version).

In that day: the day God starts punishing them (see the phrase at the beginning of the verse). The more general statement “When that happens” (Good News Translation) is not as good as “on that day.”

Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? This is not a question for information; it is a way of stating that they know their troubles are God’s punishment for their sins: God has abandoned them. So we may translate “On that day they will realize that they are suffering because I [God] have abandoned 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 .

This verse is a summarizing conclusion, using terms and expressions of the previous verses.

I will surely hide: this translates the emphatic Hebrew phrase, the double use of the verb, meaning “I will refuse to help them” (Good News Translation), or “I will pay no attention to them.”

Because they have turned to other gods: this is precisely the evil that they have done; so New Revised Standard Version says “by turning to other gods.” To “turn” to other gods is to abandon Yahweh in order to worship and serve them. So it is possible to express this as “Because they have abandoned me and started worshiping other [or, false] 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 .

Now therefore write this song: for this song see verse 30 and 32.1-43. In Hebrew write is the second person plural, meaning that Moses and Joshua are to write down the song; but the other two verbs are singular. This makes for an awkward sentence, and only Osty-Trinquet, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and the le de Jérusalem follow the Hebrew. (In languages like English, that have no different endings to distinguish between the second person singular and the second person plural, a translation such as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “write” will be read as second person singular.) Bible en français courant uses an impersonal form: “And now, the words of this song that I am going to dictate to you are to be written down.” New International Version attempts to preserve the Hebrew by translating “write down for yourselves this song and teach it”—but this is not natural, and “teach” will read as a plural form also. Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje uses the singular “write,” with a footnote indicating that the Hebrew text has the plural; this is one way to handle the matter. Another possible alternative is “I want you and Joshua to write down this song. Then you, Moses, are to teach it to….”

Teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths: these two commands say almost the same thing. A literal translation of the second command may sound funny in a number of languages. A possible alternative is “have them learn it by heart” or “… memorize it.”

That this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel: the song (32.1-43) is a recital of God’s dealings with the people of Israel, how he led them, provided for them, and protected them. So the song was a witness on God’s behalf whenever he would have to judge and punish the Israelites for forsaking him. See the same statement about the book of the law in verse 24. The Good News Translation translation “so that it will stand as evidence against them” may be difficult to translate in some languages. The longer version of Contemporary English Version may be a good alternative: “they will know what I warn them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me.”

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 I have brought them: or better, “After I have taken them.”

Land flowing with milk and honey: see 6.3.

Which I swore to give to their fathers: see 1.8.

They have eaten and are full and grown fat: these are metaphors for becoming prosperous, wealthy, and complacent. See 6.10-11; 8.12.

They will turn to other gods and serve them: see verses 16, 18.

Despise me: to “reject” (Good News Translation), or “turn their backs on me” (Contemporary English Version); see Num 14.11, 23.

Break my covenant: as in verse 16, the fuller form is better: “break the covenant [or, agreement] I made 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 .

Many evils and troubles have come upon them: see verse 17.

This song shall confront them as a witness: this is a court setting; the Israelites are being judged and the song is a hostile witness (see verse 18). In many languages it will be possible to retain the vivid imagery of a song standing “as evidence” (Good News Translation). But in some languages it will be difficult to talk about a song confronting someone as a witness. In such cases translators may follow Contemporary English Version: “I will remind them that they know the words of this song”; but even better may be “they will remember the words of this song and will realize that I am punishing them.”

(For it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their descendants): this means that the song will have been taught to the descendants of the generation that will occupy the land, and they will know why God is punishing his people.

I know the purposes which they are already forming: the noun translated purposes is often used of an instinct, mostly evil, which leads people to do evil things (see Gen 6.5; 8.21). This is expressed in New International Version as “I know what they are disposed to do”; New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “I know what plans they are devising even now,” and Revised English Bible “I know which way their thoughts incline.” Something like “I know what their [evil] impulses are” will be satisfactory in some languages.

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 Revised Standard Version verses 24-26 are one sentence. It is not complex nor overly long; but a translation may wish to follow Good News Translation and make verse 24 one sentence and verses 25-26 another sentence, or follow Contemporary English Version, which has two sentences in verses 25-26.

The words of this law: see 28.58.

A book: many readers will assume that a book at that time was like books at the present time, in the form of a volume of pages called a codex. But at that time it was a scroll made of sheets of animal hide or papyrus, sewn together. In some languages it may be necessary to make this clear; but since the nature and function of a scroll, at that time, and of a book, in the present time, are one and the same, it seems acceptable to use the word “book” and its equivalents in other languages. Such a thing is done for other artifacts, such as clothing and containers, which were quite different in biblical times from what they are today.

To the very end: in the context this means to the end of the book we have now. Bible en français courant offers a good model for this verse: “Moses wrote in a book the complete text of the law of God. When he had finished….”

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 .