When the tabernacle is to set out …: Good News Translation begins this verse with the word “Whenever” to indicate that the actions here are to be understood as repetitive: they are not just about one change of camp but about many. In many languages it will be impossible to say that an inanimate object such as the tabernacle should move; a living subject will have to be included. So Good News Translation renders this clause as “Whenever you move your camp.” But neither the second person pronouns nor the word “camp” are based on the Hebrew. Instead, the original text seems to imply a personification (the tent behaving like an animate being) to suggest that the LORD, who symbolically dwells within the tent, will determine when the people move out or camp at a particular place (see the next sentence). So a better model here with a living subject is “When the LORD wants the tent to move.” A model that better reflects the ambiguity of the original text is “When it is time for the tent to be moved.”

The Levites shall take it down: The Levites are responsible to dismantle the tent and pack it up with its equipment for the move.

And when the tabernacle is to be pitched is literally “and when the tent settles/encamps.” Again, in many languages it will be impossible to say an inanimate object should settle or encamp; a living subject will have to be included. A model that does this here is “When the LORD wants the tent to be pitched.” Another possible model is “When it is time to pitch the tent.”

The Levites shall set it up: Good News Translation says “the Levites shall … set it up again at each new campsite.” This model clearly shows the repetitive actions in this verse.

And if anyone else comes near refers to anyone other than a Levite coming near the Tabernacle. Anyone else is literally “the stranger/foreigner/outsider,” but here it refers to any Israelite other than a Levite. So a more general rendering is appropriate.

He shall be put to death: A neutral expression needs to be found here in the target language to avoid the negative overtones of a verb like “murder” in English. Revised Standard Version‘s rendering is acceptable. Another possible model is “that person must be executed.”

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .