The priest exhorts the Israelites not to be afraid.

Hear, O Israel: as in 6.3 and 4.

To battle against your enemies: that is, “to fight your enemies” (as in verse 1).

Let not your heart faint, do not fear, or tremble, or be in dread: the exhortation is quite wordy, with four different expressions for not to be afraid. This repetition is for emphasis. Translators should not feel compelled to find four different expressions, if this turns out to be unnatural in their language; Good News Translation reduces the four expressions to three. In most languages there are good idiomatic expressions for fear and panic, and translators should make use of them; for example, “heart falls,” “heart turns over [or, flops],” or “have a swollen heart.” For be in dread of them, see 1.29.

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 .