The structure of this verse may need to be reversed in some languages, putting the if clause at the beginning of the verse (so Good News Translation). The overall structure of verses 7-8 may also need to be rearranged as proposed below.

I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land: A literal rendering of this clause may sound very unnatural in many languages. The focus on the feet of Israel (literally “the foot of Israel”) will probably be unnecessarily distracting. This expression stands for the people of Israel in general. The Hebrew noun rendered the land is not the Hebrew noun that is most often rendered “land” in 1–2 Kings. The noun used here is the same as the one used in 1 Kgs 8.34, and the focus is on the land as cultivated land by which people are able to grow food. The focus is not on the land as a political or geographical area. For this reason Osty-Trinquet correctly says “the earth.” Some other ways of expressing the whole clause are “I shall not again make Israel outcasts from the land” (Revised English Bible), “I will not in future allow Israel to be driven off the land” (New American Bible), and “I will never again make the Israelites wander out of the land” (New Century Version).

Their fathers refers to “their ancestors” (Good News Translation).

My servant Moses: The image of Moses as the servant of the LORD is common in the literature of the Old Testament and occurs very frequently in the book of Joshua. Compare also 1 Kgs 8.53, 56 and 2 Kgs 18.12.

The following model is one possible way of rearranging the complex structure of verses 7-8 and converting the direct discourse to indirect discourse.

• Now the LORD had previously told David and Solomon that he had chosen the Temple in Jerusalem from the whole land of Israel as the place where he wanted his people to worship him. And he promised that if the people of Israel would obey all his commands and keep the whole Law, which his servant Moses gave them, then he would not allow them to be driven out of the land that he gave to their ancestors. But [in spite of this] Manasseh set up an image of the goddess Asherah in that very same Temple.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .