Moses continues speaking. Since most translations will have a break here, with a title for the section 6.1-9, as in Good News Translation, it may be good to start anew (with closing quotes at the end of 5.33 if necessary), as follows: “Moses continued to speak to the Israelites:….”

Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the ordinances: this construction is like the one in 5.31, and here the translator may follow the same procedure as there; see Bible en français courant: “These are the commandments, the laws, and the rules” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “And this is the Instruction—the laws and the rules—that the LORD…” (similarly New Revised Standard Version), taking the first word commandment to be general, including the two terms statutes and ordinances that follow. The Handbook recommends that translators follow Bible en français courant. However, if there are insufficient suitable terms in a language, we may say, for example, “These are the laws and teachings” (Contemporary English Version), or even “These are all the laws” (Good News Translation). For commandment see 4.2; statutes and ordinances, 4.1.

The LORD your God commanded me to teach you: Yahweh gave the Law to Moses and ordered him to teach it to the Israelites; your and you are plural in the Hebrew text. The verb for teach should be a general one if possible, and not make the reader think of a classroom with a teacher and students; Moses was to announce these laws in the hearing of the people. For the LORD your God see 1.6.

That you may do them: instead of that, meaning “in order that,” it is often better to join this closely with the previous verb, as New Revised Standard Version does: “… that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to follow.” To do a commandment is to obey it, put it into practice. Something like the following may serve as a model: “These are the commandments, the laws and the rules that the LORD your God ordered me to teach you to obey.”

In the land to which you are going over, to possess it: this wordy and awkward English is a formal equivalent of the Hebrew; Good News Translation is more natural and simple. The phrase going over refers to the crossing of the Jordan River (see 4.14). For to possess see 1.8.

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 .