Then the officers shall speak to the people: these are the officers in charge of all the troops; they are not the same as the “commanders” in verse 9. For officers see 1.15; 16.18, where the meaning seems to be “overseers.”

What man is there that…? There is a series of questions in verses 5-8 which all begin the same way. This beginning can be translated in a number of ways: New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Is there anyone who…?” and Good News Translation “Is there any man here”; however, New Revised Standard Version “Has anyone…?” is a bit too vague. Here it is all right to use the masculine “man” and not a more general “anyone,” because only men were enlisted to fight. Instead of a question, a statement can be used, “Any man who…” (Revised English Bible), or a conditional, “If any man [or, any of you].”

Has not dedicated it: this is the only Old Testament reference to the dedication of a private house; nothing is known about what would have been done. But the word dedicated (used of the Temple, 1 Kgs 8.63) indicates a religious ceremony, requesting God’s protection and blessing, and promising God that he will be honored and obeyed by those who live in the house. It is not enough simply to say “and has not begun to live in it,” as some translations do. In some languages it will be necessary to make clear who is the one to whom the house is dedicated; for example, “has not yet dedicated it to God.”

Let him go back … lest he die in battle and another man …: the second part of the officers’ statement is similar in all four instances, and a translation should reflect this. It may be better to modify this part of the verse somewhat: “If there is, you may go back home, because you may die in battle and another man will dedicate your house.” Good News Translation and Revised English Bible “Otherwise” is a fairly high-level construction in English which translators may not be able to use in other languages. Possible alternatives are “It is possible that” or “It may happen that.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Then the officers will say to the fighting men, “If any man has built a new house, but hasn’t yet dedicated it to God, he may go home. It is possible that he may die in battle and someone else will dedicate his house.”

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 .