He: the pronoun here refers to the priest.

The living bird: it may be more natural to say “the other bird” in some languages, as in Good News Translation. Others may say “the remaining bird, the live one.” Special care should be taken to distinguish clearly between the live bird and the one that was killed, which is mentioned at the end of this verse.

With … and … and …: this is translated “together with” by Good News Translation and indicates that all these items were dipped simultaneously into the water. The translation should not give the impression of a series of dippings.

Over the running water: although the Revised Standard Version translation is different here, the words are essentially the same as in the previous verse. The repetition of this information here may be unnecessary in some languages.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .