A problem now arises in the switch from the plural forms of the verbs referring to the Israelites (actually, in Hebrew, the singular is used for the people as a whole) to the singular masculine form in verse 11. To display this switch in English we would have to say, “And one [masculine] of you sees … and you [masculine] want….”

Sees among the captives a beautiful woman: except for captives, this offers no difficulty. The more current form in English is “prisoners of war”; and, as the rest of the section makes clear (see verse 13), the woman is unmarried. However, if the term captives (“prisoners of war”) was used at the end of the previous verse, it will not be necessary to repeat it here. We may say “And one of you sees a beautiful woman among them [the captives].”

You have desire for her: this means sexual desire, and a clear, but not vulgar, term should be used. If a suitable expression cannot be found, it is possible to combine it with the following clause and say, for example, “and want to take her to be your wife.”

And would take her for yourself as wife: in some languages this will be expressed just like the Hebrew, while in others it will be rendered, for example, as “you want to marry her” (New Revised Standard Version; similarly Contemporary English Version).

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 .