Jeshurun: this is an affectionate name for the people of Israel, and it appears also in 33.5, 26; Isa 44.2; in all instances the Septuagint translates “Jacob.” Jeshurun means “the upright one.” If the name is used in the text, a footnote like the one in New International Version should be used: “Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel.” In most languages it will be better to use “Israel” or “Yahweh’s people” in the text.

Kicked: that is, “rebelled.” For a description of rebellion see 8.12-17.

You waxed fat … grew thick … became sleek: these are successive stages in the process of becoming fat and prosperous (see 31.20). In this context sleek means well-fed, healthy, even prosperous. Notice the change from the third person of narration to the second person of address. The second line of the verse expands what is said in the first line; see point 2 in the section about “Translation of Poetry” in “Translating Deuteronomy” at the beginning of the Handbook (page 8). It is thus possible to combine the two lines as follows:

• People of Israel, you grew rich and revolted against God….

He forsook: another change of person; see 31.16. However, “you [plural]” may be kept by translators who have been using the second person pronoun throughout.

Scoffed: New International Version and Good News Translation take it to mean “rejected,” as a closer parallel to forsook. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates “spurned” (see its use in Jer 14.21; but the meaning “treat with contempt” is to be found in Micah 7.6; Nahum 3.6). See below for a way to combine these two verbs.

The Rock of his salvation: that is, the Rock (see verse 4) who saved them. Translators should be careful that the translation of the final two lines doesn’t seem to refer to two separate deities, one who is the God who made him and the other the Rock of his salvation. Since scoffed at and forsook in the previous line are so close in meaning, it is possible to combine the information in the final two lines as follows:

• They [or, You] rejected God their [or, your] Creator,
the one who is their [or, your] mighty savior.

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 .

Stirred him to jealousy: see 4.24. God is spoken of in very human terms, as though he were a husband made jealous by the adulterous (extramarital) affairs of his wife.

Strange gods: the Hebrew is simply “strangers”; the meaning here is “pagan gods,” “gods of other nations.” Another way to express this is “They [or, You] caused Yahweh to be jealous when you worshiped foreign gods.”

Abominable practices: the poetic form places this Hebrew term in parallel with the idols of the first line; therefore this term refers, not the rites of worship of pagan gods as such, but to the idols themselves, as in verse 21 (see 7.25). So New Revised Standard Version has “abhorrent things,” and Contemporary English Version “disgusting idols.”

Provoked him to anger: see 4.25; 31.17.

Contemporary English Version restructures the verse in a helpful way:

• You made God jealous and angry
by worshiping disgusting idols
and foreign 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 .

This verse is one sentence in Hebrew, but in some languages more than one sentence may be needed. Translators should use a style that is appropriate and natural in their language.

They sacrificed to demons: “to sacrifice” means to offer sacrifices, usually of animals. Only here and in Psa 106.37 does this noun occur. Demons refers to the “foreign gods,” who were thought of as representing demons. Some translators may wish to keep the word demons (“dirty or evil spirits”) and translate similarly to Contemporary English Version:

• You offered sacrifices
to demons, those useless gods

Which were no gods: that is, they were not really divine, but demonic; so Good News Translation says “gods that are not real.” But the Hebrew text may be translated “not to God” (New Revised Standard Version), and this seems preferable. See 1 Cor 10.20. So “rather than offering them [the sacrifices or animals] to God” will be a good model.

Gods they had never known: see 9.24.

New gods that had come in of late: that is, gods they got to know after they had settled in Canaan. This does not mean that those gods had arrived recently in Canaan, but that they had recently become known to the Israelites. So we may say “gods they [or, you] had just come to know.”

Whom your fathers had never dreaded: the verb is more or less parallel with never known of two lines above. It is used of religious awe, reverence, or respect. As elsewhere, fathers means ancestors.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• They [or, You] offered sacrifices to foreign gods
rather than offering them to God.
These were gods that they [or, you] had just come to know,
gods that your ancestors had never worshiped.

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 .

You were unmindful … you forgot: the two verbs mean the same thing and indicate a gradual apostasy on the part of the Israelites; they neglected and finally abandoned their own God.

The Rock: see verse 4; here Revised English Bible translates “the Creator.”

That begot you … who gave you birth: as the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, the first verb may mean “who bore you,” which is the text of New Revised Standard Version. In Gen 4.18 it means “beget”; but most often it means “bear,” as a mother. The second verb is that of a mother giving birth, using a female figure for God. The first verb may be of a father (begot) or of a mother (“bore”). It is not really possible to decide this one way or the other. Some suggest that the writer deliberately used a male figure and a female figure; but it seems more reasonable to suppose that the two parallel lines have the same meaning, in both of them God being compared to a mother. It is recommended that this interpretation be followed. See similar sayings in Isa 49.15; 66.13.

The Contemporary English Version translation is a good model for translators to follow:

• You turned away
from God, your Creator;
you forgot the Mighty Rock,
the source of your life.

But it is important to retain the image of God as mother, so it is preferable to translate:

• You rejected the mighty Savior,
the one who bore you.
You turned away from the God
who gave you birth.

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 verses 19-25 the sentence is passed: Israel is guilty and will be punished.

The LORD saw it: he saw or noticed that the Israelites had turned away from him. In some languages it will be good to supply this information; for example, “When the LORD saw that they [or, you] had turned away from him.”

Spurned: this means he rejected them; no longer would they be his people.

The provocation of his sons and his daughters: that is, they provoked him, or made him angry; see the verb in verse 21. Good News Translation rearranges the text for greater ease of understanding, as does New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh: “The LORD saw this and was vexed, and spurned His sons and His daughters.”

We may reorder the clauses of this verse as follows:

• You were the LORD’s children,
but you made him angry
when he saw that you had turned away from him.
So he rejected you, and said, …

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 said: this marks the beginning of Yahweh’s words, which continue almost to the end of the song; from this point to the end of verse 42, “I” and “me” refer to Yahweh. But see comments below about problems in translating third person references to Yahweh within this direct speech.

I will hide my face from them: see 31.17-18.

I will see what their end will be: that is, “I will see what will happen to them.” God speaks here as a spectator; he does not affirm that he himself will be responsible for what becomes of them. Contemporary English Version translates “I’ll just watch and see what happens to you” (similarly Good News Translation).

A perverse generation: see verse 5.

Children in whom is no faithfulness: that is, “unfaithful children,” who do not respect or obey God their Father.

We may restructure this verse as follows:

• You are unfaithful people
and I can’t trust you.
So I won’t help you any longer;
I’ll just watch
and see what happens 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 .

Stirred me to jealousy: see verse 16; this is parallel with they have provoked me, or “made me angry” (see 31.29).

What is no god: see verse 17; this is parallel with their idols in the next line. The Good News Translation rendering “so-called gods” is difficult to translate. Something like “worthless and false gods” will be easier.

I will stir them to jealousy … I will provoke them: God will do to his people exactly what they have done to him—a perfect payback. Two alternative ways of combining these first two lines are:

• You worshiped worthless idols
and made me jealous and angry.
You made me jealous and angry
because you worshiped worthless idols
which are not gods at all.

Those who are no people: this is the counterpart of what is no god. God will use nations and peoples who are inferior and who do not merit the name “people”; instead they are a foolish nation (see verse 6). See Paul’s use of this verse in Rom 10.19. Those who are no people and a foolish nation refer to the same nation, not to two different nations. It will be helpful in some languages to combine the two lines as follows:

• Now I will send a nation of worthless and stupid people to make you jealous and angry.

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 .

A fire is kindled by my anger: God’s anger is compared to a fire that destroys everything before it (see 4.24). Good News Translation uses a simile: “My anger will flame up like fire.” We may also say “I will be very angry, and just like fire flares up, my anger will burn.” Contemporary English Version uses another picture: “I will breathe out fire that….”

It burns to the depths of Sheol: God’s fire burns all the way through the surface of the earth to the very bottom of the world of the dead.

Devours the earth and its increase: that is, the earth and everything that grows on it; New International Version translates “the earth and its harvests.”

Notice that Good News Translation, logically enough, reverses the order of these two lines, beginning with the earth, and then going down to the roots of the mountains and the world of the dead.

The foundations of the mountains: in the Hebrew concept of the universe, the sky was a flat disk supported by the mountains, whose roots reached down to the depths of Sheol (see Psa 18.7-8; Amos 7.4). Good News Translation may serve as a model for this 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 .