But from there: “But while you are there,” “But in that country.” Yahweh is not restricted to his own land, the land of Israel. He can be “found” anywhere.

You will seek the LORD your God and you will find him: the idea of looking for God and finding him may not be easy to express without sounding ludicrous, as though God were hiding or living in some place difficult to find. The “seeking” consists of praying to God, and the “finding” of having the prayer answered. So we may translate “But in that country you will pray to the LORD your God, and he will answer you.”

If you search for him: here a different Hebrew verb is used; other models can be “if you really look for him,” “if you really try to find him,” or “if you really try to contact him….” In some languages this if clause will come first. In such cases translators must ensure that this verse fits with the flow of the paragraph.

With all your heart and with all your soul: in general the heart stands for intellect or will, and the soul for emotion, feelings. This phrase recurs frequently (10.12; 11.13; 13.3; 26.16; 30.2, 6, 10); the triple phrase “heart, soul, and might” is used in 6.5. Some possibilities are “whole-heartedly,” “completely,” “with all your being,” “earnestly.” Translators are urged to use descriptive language similar to the Hebrew if it does not sound strange or unnatural. Otherwise we may simply have to combine the two parts of the verse; for example, “If you earnestly pray to the LORD your God in that country, he will listen to you.”

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 .