He found him in a desert land: this is a picturesque way of talking about Yahweh and the people of Israel during the Israelites’ forty-year trek through the wilderness on their way to the land of Canaan. The language should be retained, meaning that God happened to find the people on their way to Canaan. In many languages him should be changed to “them.” However, it is also possible to change him to “you [plural]” and say “Israel, Yahweh found you [plural] wandering in the desert,” or even “People of Israel, Yahweh found you….”

The howling waste of the wilderness: see a description of the wilderness in 8.15. The howling waste is an expression meaning uninhabited, desolate, dreary territory. It is possible to take howling waste to refer to a desolate wilderness with howling winds sweeping through it. So Good News Translation has “a desolate, wind-swept wilderness,” and Contemporary English Version translates “a barren desert, filled with howling winds.”

He encircled … he cared: the verb encircled does not indicate a threatening move to capture, but a gesture of love. BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum has “surrounded with care,” New Revised Standard Version “shielded,” Good News Translation “protected,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “embraced him in his arms.” Cared translates a form of the verb which appears only here in the Old Testament; some, like Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, understand it in the light of the Septuagint, “he instructed him.” The more general term “care for,” however, seems preferable.

He kept him as the apple of his eye: indicating the worth of Israel to God. The phrase the apple of his eye (also Pro 7.2; Psa 17.8) is literally “the little man” in the eye. Different languages have their own expression for this; Spanish and Portuguese say “the girl of the eyes.” The English word “pupil” (of the eye) comes from Latin pupilla, “little doll.” A more general translation is “just as he takes care of his own eyes,” or “just as though you were his own eyes.”

A possible alternative translation model for this verse is:

• People of Israel, Yahweh found you [plural]
wandering through a desolate wilderness,
filled with howling winds.
He protected you, and cared for you
just like he takes care of his own eyes.

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 .

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest: of the four lines in this verse, the meaning of this line is the most difficult to determine. New Revised Standard Version is the same as Revised Standard Version; other renderings are New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “Like an eagle who rouses his nestlings,” BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum “like an eagle keeping watch over its young who are in the nest,” New Jerusalem Bible “Like an eagle watching its nest,” Revised English Bible “As an eagle watches over its young.” The Hebrew verb usually means to “disturb” or “stir up”; but the meaning “watch” found in the Septuagint is defended by some and is the meaning given by Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible, and it is an alternative rendering given in the Good News Translation footnote. This meaning is the one recommended here. So we may also say something like “Yahweh is like an eagle watching over its young in the nest.”

An eagle: in cultures where eagles are unknown, some other large bird of prey may be used.

That flutters over its young: the verb in this line is the same one used in Gen 1.2 of the spirit (or, wind) of God hovering over the abyss. Good News Translation “teaching its young to fly” (also Contemporary English Version) follows theVulgate, provocans ad volandum, “enticing [its young] to fly.” This, however, is most unlikely, and it is recommended that the Revised Standard Version rendering be followed.

Spreading out its wings, catching them: Revised Standard Version and other translations take this line and the next one to apply to the eagle and its young. But a number of commentaries and translations take this line and the next one to apply to Yahweh and his people, not to the eagle and its young. So New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “so did he spread his wings and take them” (also Osty-Trinquet, Pléiade).

The last line, bearing them on its pinions, therefore refers also to God, not to the eagle. So God “carries them on his wings”; the Hebrew word for “wings” here is different from the one used in the previous line. For the figure of God doing this for his people, see Exo 19.4.

A possible alternative translation model for this verse is:

• The LORD is like an eagle guarding its nest,
and hovering over its young.
The LORD is always ready to spread his wings
and catch his people when they are falling.

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 LORD alone did lead him: here the figure changes from the LORD carrying his people on his wings to leading them on their way; him refers to the people of Israel. So we may translate “The LORD alone led his people” (Good News Translation), or “Israel, the LORD led you” (Contemporary English Version).

There was no foreign god with him: this verse emphasizes that Yahweh did this alone, without help from any pagan god—thereby proving that Israel belongs to him alone (see 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 .

Here the song begins to tell the story of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, after they settled down and became a strong, prosperous people.

He made him ride on the high places of the earth: the exact origin of the verbal phrase He made him ride (also Isa 58.14) is unknown. It seems to imply riding on an animal, perhaps a horse, but this cannot be proven. The usual phrase is “to walk [or, stride] on the high places” (see 33.29; Psa 18.33; Amos 4.13; Micah 1.3). But the meaning of this figure is quite clear; it means to be given possession of, to conquer, to own, to rule. Yahweh gave Israel the highlands of Canaan; so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “He set him atop the highlands” (see 8.7-9; Exo 15.17). This is not steep, mountainous country as such, but the highlands, as compared with the seacoast and lowland plains. The verbal phrase made him ride on is a poetic figure that means to give possession of or dominion over. Another way to express this sentence is “He let them [or, you] rule in the high country of Canaan.”

He ate the produce of the field: here the valleys and plains are joined to the highlands. Following the Samaritan text, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Targum, New Revised Standard Version has “and fed him” (that is, God fed Israel). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Hebrew Text, however ({A} rating), and this should be followed. He here, of course, refers to the Israelites. So in many languages something like “they [or, you] ate what grew in the fields” will be more satisfactory.

He made him suck honey out of the rock: the verb made him suck is figurative language in which to “suckle” a child is a picture of God tenderly feeding his people (see Gen 21.7). The text is talking about wild beehives found among clefts of rocks and crags, where the Israelites would get honey (see the figure in Isa 7.18-19). So Good News Translation has “they found wild honey among the rocks.”

And oil out of the flinty rock: this is olive oil, and the meaning is that olive trees were growing on rocky hillsides. Good News Translation offers a good model for the translation of the last part of the 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 .

Revised Standard Version begins a new sentence that is not a true sentence but a series of noun phrases. In most languages it is better to begin a new sentence with a subject and verb: “He fed them with,” “He sustained them with,” or “He provided them with.”

Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock: the first expression refers to sour milk, or curds (something like cottage cheese) or yogurt from cows’ milk (see Gen 18.5), and the second expression refers to goats’ milk. An alternative model for these first lines is:

• He [Yahweh] fed them [or, you] with curds [or, yogurt] from their [or, your] cows, and milk from their [or, your] goats.

Fat of lambs and rams, herds of Bashan and goats: rams are male sheep, and herds of Bashan are cows and bulls. The word fat here means, in a general way, well-fed, fat animals.

Besides herds and flocks of animals, the Israelites had good crops (the finest of the wheat), and fine wine from their vineyards (of the blood of the grape you drank wine). Notice the shift to the second person you; it is better to stay with the third person and not change, if a translator has been using the third person throughout; but some translators will have been using the second person pronoun since verse 10. So we may translate “He gave you the finest wheat and the best wine.”

At the end of this verse, the Samaritan text and the Septuagint add “Jacob ate and was well fed.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports this ({C} rating) and recommends that it be included. Among major modern translations, Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible do so. If a translator decides to include it, he or she can say something like the following: “They [or, You] had all they [or, you] needed, and grew prosperous.”

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 .