The best gifts of the earth and its fulness: this is a summary statement; it means everything that grows—crops, vineyards, fruit trees. The phrase the earth and its fulness means the ability of the earth to bring forth bumper crops: “this rich [or, fertile] land.” BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum translates “the rich yield of the land and everything it produces”; or we may say “all the best things that the land can produce.”

The favor of him that dwelt in the bush: this is a reference to the events narrated in Exo 3.1-6. The idea of God living in the bush is a bit strange; the Septuagint translates “who was seen in the bush.” Good News Translation is justified, in terms of what actually happened, in translating “who spoke from the burning bush.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates “the Presence in the bush,” and Bible en français courant “the favor of the God present in the bush.” Another possibility is Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, “the God who appeared in the burning bush” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Either this, or “… of God, who appeared…” is recommended as a model for translators.

Let these come upon the head … upon the crown of the head: these have the same meaning. New Revised Standard Version “on the brow” for the second expression (also New International Version) may be better than “the crown,” which is the top of the head, not a king’s or queen’s headwear.

Joseph is described as prince among his brothers, that is, the leader or the most outstanding one. The Hebrew word translated prince may in some contexts mean “Nazirite,” that is, someone who is dedicated to God (see the story of Samson in Judges 13.5, 7); so New Jerusalem Bible has “the consecrated one.” However, it is better to say “leader” (Good News Translation). An alternative rendering for the second part of this verse is:

• I ask that all these things happen
to the people of the tribe of Joseph,
because he [Joseph] was the leader
among his brothers.

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 .

Notice that here Good News Translation has switched from the tribe of Joseph (verses 13-16) to Joseph himself. However, it is also possible to bring the reference to Ephraim and Manasseh forward from the end of this verse to the beginning and say “Ephraim and Manasseh, your thousands of soldiers are big and strong like….”

His firstling bull: there is a textual problem here. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project ({B} rating) judges the text to be “the first-born of his bull,” in which the “first-born” is Joseph; “bull” is God and “his” refers to Joseph, meaning “Joseph is the first-born of his God.” This does not seem very likely and is not recommended to the translator. A Qumran manuscript, plus the Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, andVulgate omit “his,” and this is the text that should be followed.

It is better to translate the verse as a simile, not as metaphor. So New International Version says “In majesty he is like a firstborn bull”; likewise New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Like a firstling bull in majesty.” Some translations (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant) omit “firstborn,” but this is not recommended. In this passage majesty refers primarily to size and strength.

His horns are the horns of a wild ox: wild ox and bull have the same meaning here and may be represented by one animal, as in Bible en français courant: “Like the wild buffalo he is armed with two powerful horns.” Instead of horns BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum has “strong” and “strength”: “He is beautiful, like the firstborn of a bull, and strong as a buffalo; with his strength he will attack all peoples.” It is also possible to say “and as a wild ox uses its horns to gore its enemies, they [Ephraim and Manasseh] will gore….” Contemporary English Version changes the simile of “gore” to the weapons that the Israelites will use to kill their enemies: “they will run their spears through….”

With them he shall push the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth: this is standard exaggerated language, proper to this kind of poetry. The tribe of Joseph would be powerful and would drive back all the surrounding peoples. The Hebrew verb means “to gore,” and New Revised Standard Version offers a better text to follow: “with them he gores the peoples, driving them to the ends of the earth” (see also Good News Translation).

Notice that Good News Translation has placed the last two lines of this verse before the previous two lines in order to make clear the relationship between them. This may be a good thing for other translations to do.

Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh: as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh makes clear, the meaning here is that one horn is Ephraim, the other Manasseh; Good News Translation is a good model. Here these two sons of Joseph are cited in order to make the total number of tribes come to twelve. It may be a good idea, with BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, to have a footnote identifying Ephraim and Manasseh as sons of Joseph and two tribes of Israel.

Bible en français courant maintains the order of the Hebrew text, ending the verse as follows: “One of the horns is the multitude of Ephraim, the other, the many troops of Manasseh.” In both cases, as the context makes clear, the ten thousands and the thousands are men available as warriors. It is also possible, as indicated above, to drastically restructure the verse as follows:

• The thousands of soldiers
of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh
are big and strong like bulls.
As a wild ox uses its horns to gore its enemies,
so they will gore their enemies
and push them to the ends of the earth.

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 18-19 two tribes are mentioned together, Zebulun and Issachar.

In your going out … in your tents: your going out talks about travels abroad, in this context maritime commerce and trade (see Gen 49.13). In your tents refers to the home life of a pastoral or nomadic people. Good News Translation has a good 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 .

They shall call peoples to their mountain: as the context shows, this refers to a place of worship; a hill or high place was the usual spot where altars and worship places were built. If a particular mountain is meant, this could be Mount Carmel or, more probably, Mount Tabor. The people of these two tribes invite peoples to come and worship with them. Some take this to refer to their fellow Israelites; Contemporary English Version makes this clear with “So invite the other tribes.” In English peoples will be taken by readers to mean other groups or nations (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible); so Good News Translation has “invite foreigners.” The meaning “other tribes,” “fellow-Israelites,” is to be preferred.

Offer right sacrifices: these are the appropriate sacrifices, the ones required by the Law.

They suck the affluence of the seas: some languages may have a verb that expresses the meaning of suck in a natural fashion. For suck see the same verb in 32.13. Good News Translation is here a good model to follow. The plural seas can be a reference to the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Galilee, or else it is used in a general sense and may be translated “the sea” (Bible en français courant, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible).

The hidden treasures of the sand: this is not a good translation, since it suggests treasures along the seashore that have been hidden by others. The meaning is still that of trade carried on by ships sailing the seas. Some commentators mention the increasing use of sand in making pottery. Again Good News Translation has a good alternative model.

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 be he who enlarges Gad! here God is the one referred to as blessed, and in this kind of statement the meaning is to “give thanks for God,” “give praise to God.” In most languages God cannot be the object of the verb “to bless,” as though a human being were blessing God. Enlarges Gad means that God will give them more land. A possible alternative model for these first two lines is:

• People of the tribe of Gad,
the LORD will be kind to you
and give you more land.
So you must praise him.

Gad is compared to a lion, who lies in wait for its prey. The verb couches here normally means to “live,” “dwell in,” so the meaning “Gad lives there like a lion” (New International Version) is also possible (in verse 13 a different Hebrew verb is used).

Tears the arm, and the crown of the head: that is, attacking and tearing off an arm or the scalp of the victim. On the people of Gad as fighters, see Gen 49.19.

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 .

He chose the best of the land for himself: that is, in the division of the land of Canaan among the twelve tribes. Another way to express this is “You chose the best of the land for yourselves.”

A commander’s portion: this means “a larger share,” which would be given to a leader.

And he came to the heads of the people: New Revised Standard Version has “he came at the head of the people.” However, Good News Translation and others follow the text of old translations and take the meaning as “the leaders of Israel” (see the Good News Translation footnote). This gives the sense that, when the tribal leaders came together to divide the land, they decided that the tribe of Gad should have “a ruler’s portion.”

Revised Standard Version indicates no textual problems here; New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, however, notes that the meaning of the whole of verse 21 is uncertain. A change to the way the text of the first three lines is read is proposed by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project ({C} rating), resulting in the following: “He chose the best portion for himself, for (where) the portion of the commander (was) there the chiefs of the people gathered together.” In this restructured text the second line is joined to the third, not to the first. There seem to be as many solutions to this problem as there are translations.

Out of the many possibilities it is recommended that Revised English Bible serve as the basic text:

• He chose the best for himself,
for to him was allotted a ruler’s portion,
when the chiefs of the people were gathered together.

We may reorder the first three lines of the verse as follows:

• When the tribal leaders met together
they assigned the best of the land to you;
it was a ruler’s portion.

Revised Standard Version has reversed the order of the last two lines, translating with Israel he executed the commands and just decrees of the LORD. It is recommended that this rendition be ignored completely. New Revised Standard Version “he executed the justice of the LORD, and his ordinances for Israel” is better. For “ordinances” see 4.1.

The last two parallel lines may be translated as follows:

• When the leaders of Israel were gathered together,
he [Gad] carried out the LORD’s righteous will
and his ordinances [or, laws] for the people of Israel.

If translators choose to follow the radical restructuring of the first three lines of the verse suggested above, a possible model for the whole verse is:

• When the leaders of the tribes met together,
they assigned the best of the land to you—
the ruler’s portion.
You also carried out the LORD’s righteous will
and his ordinances for the people of Israel.

The following is offered as another possible model:

• He chose the best of the land for himself;
When the leaders of the tribes gathered together
They assigned a leader’s share to him.
He carried out the LORD’s righteous will,
He obeyed the laws that the LORD gave to the people of Israel.

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 .

Dan is a lion’s whelp: this is said of Judah in Gen 49.9. The figure can be expressed as a metaphor, “Dan is a young lion,” or as a simile, “Dan is like a young lion.” In most instances a simile will probably be better.

Leaps forth from Bashan: Bashan was a region east of the Jordan River, south of Lake Galilee (see 3.1). The text is talking about military raids against neighboring peoples. It does not mean Dan “leaps out of Bashan”; it means that from his lair in Bashan Dan assaults his enemies, and in a number of languages something like the following will be a possible translation:

• From your lair [or, cave] in Bashan
you leap out on [or, attack] your enemies.

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 .

Satisfied with and full of mean exactly the same thing, as do favor and the blessing of the LORD. New International Version does a good job of combining the various elements: “Naphtali is abounding with the favor of the LORD, and is full of his blessing.”

In some cases it will be better to change and make Naphtali the object of Yahweh’s action: “The LORD has been good to [the tribe of] Naphtali, and has poured out his blessings on him [or, them].” However, in a number of languages translators will need to make the meaning of blessing clear; for example:

• About the people of the tribe of Naphtali he said,
“Yahweh has been very kind to you
and given you many good things….”

Possess the lake and the south: some translations use the indicative mood (Good News Translation “their land reaches to”; also Revised English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), but it seems better to retain the imperative.

The lake translates the Hebrew word “the sea,” which also bears the meaning “west.” Since the territory of the tribe of Naphtali was west of Lake Galilee, “the sea” would be Lake Galilee itself. It is recommended that the following serve as a model: “Take possession of territory to the west and to the south of your land” (so Bible en français courant).

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 .