So I took the heads of your tribes: the text does not say that the people picked these men out; this may be understood from the narrative, but there is no account of it. It would not do for the translation to go beyond the Hebrew text and say that the people picked out the leaders. By the verb took, the text means that Moses summoned them to come to him.

Wise and experienced men: using two of the three terms in verse 13. We assume that in verse 13 “men” refers to males, and here in verse 15 they are also males. The “leaders” (Good News Translation) of tribes would always have been men.

And set them as heads over you: this seems to suggest an installation ceremony.

Commanders: since this is primarily a military position, the equivalent of “captains” or “chiefs” may be used. In descending order of authority these men were placed in charge of groups of one thousand men, one hundred men, fifty men, and ten men. Languages lacking terms for these quantities will have to use other means to display the difference in the number of men in each of the four groups referred to.

Officers: it is difficult to determine what was the precise responsibility of these men; they appear with the elders (Num 11.16) and with judges (Deut 16.18; Josh 8.33), and also in military contexts (Deut 20.5, 8, 9; Josh 1.10; 3.2). Dhorme translates “scribes,” but this does not seem appropriate here. The English word “officers” will be understood by most readers in a military sense; New Revised Standard Version is better with “officials.” It seems better to choose some more general term; Bible en français courant has “the task of overseeing.” An alternative translation model for this sentence is “I also appointed other officials as overseers of your people.”

Throughout your tribes: this modifies all the actions in the earlier part of the verse. Again, the translator must be aware of the possible misunderstanding of the possessive “your.” Contemporary English Version avoids this problem with “your official leaders,” also leaving tribes implicit.

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 .