I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven: this can be expressed in a more natural way: “I shall fill the peoples under all heaven with fear and terror of you” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “I will make all the nations to be terribly afraid of you.” For comments on “fill with fear” or “melt the heart,” see 1.28, 29. The phrase “under the whole heaven” is a way of including all peoples everywhere and can be more simply stated as “all the nations in the world” (Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), or even “all people everywhere in the world.”

Who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you: this further emphasizes the fear that will possess the various peoples whose lands the Israelites will invade and conquer. It is not clear whether the report of you, that is, “the news about you,” will be of the Israelites’ successive victories as they advance, or refers to their miraculous escape from Egypt. In any case a translation should say no more than the Hebrew text. Shall hear the report of you may also be expressed as “when anyone mentions [or, talks about] you.” The two verbs shall tremble and be in anguish may be combined as Good News Translation has done: “will tremble with fear at the mention of your name”; or if there are vivid terms that are similar in meaning in a receptor language, we may translate in a way similar to Contemporary English Version: “They will tremble with fear when anyone mentions you, and they will be terrified when you appear.”

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 .