Requite the LORD: the verb requite means to repay or to pay back; so Revised English Bible says “is this how you repay the LORD?” In a more general sense “how you treat the LORD” is a possibility (similarly Good News Translation).
Foolish and senseless: two terms almost the same in meaning; other possibilities are “stupid,” “dull,” “witless.” The sense of “ignorant” is not primary; it is not a lack of information but a lack of good judgment—even being stupid. So Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje has “a people without any good sense or wisdom.” The first two lines may be reversed as follows:
• You are foolish and stupid people,
Is this the way you repay the LORD?
The second question is also an accusation.
Your father, who created you: the verb created means to “bring into being,” to “give life.” It is different from the verb used in Gen 1.1, but it is the same verb used in Gen 4.1, where it is said to be the origin of the name “Cain” (see also Exo 15.16); so New Revised Standard Version has “the people whom you have acquired.” But if the equivalent of the verb “acquire” is used, care must be taken that it is not understood as a purchase, with a price paid to someone, as the New International Version footnote “who bought you” suggests. This Handbook recommends that translators use the word “create” or “Creator” in the text (with Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and New International Version), with a footnote saying, for example, “Or Father, who acquired you.”
Who made you and established you: the verb “make” is the one most generally used of making something; to “establish” means to make secure or strong. The text is talking about how God made the people of Israel into a nation, a people of his own; this happened when he brought them out of Egypt. So Good News Translation has “he made you into a nation.” Translators are advised to follow Good News Translation as a model for this verse.
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 .