Shall not remain all night: that is, the body is to be removed before sunset of that same day (see Josh 8.29; 10.27); “Be sure to bury him that same day” (New International Version). Good News Translation has “it [the body] is not to remain there overnight,” and Contemporary English Version “you must not let it hang there overnight.”

You shall bury him the same day: the Hebrew is emphatic, using the compound form of the verb. Another way of emphasizing this is “He must be buried the same day.”

Accursed by God: not because the body is impaled on a stake, but because it is the body of a criminal put to death for his (or her) crime. The translation should not suggest that God curses the corpse; rather, this is a strong expression for something that is an offense or abomination to God. Good News Translation has “because a dead body hanging on a post brings God’s curse on the land” (similarly Contemporary English Version). “Brings God’s curse upon” may be transformed to “causes God to curse the land,” or even “makes God say, ‘May the land become cursed [or, unclean].’ ” (In Gal 3.13 Paul applies this verse to Christ’s crucifixion.)

Defile the land: that is, render it unfit for the worship of the God of Israel.

Your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance: see verse 1.

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 .