But he said: The pronoun he refers to the Edomites (so Good News Translation) or possibly their king (so New Living Translation; see the comments on verse 18).

You shall not pass through: The Hebrew pronoun for You is singular, but as in verse 18, it refers to the nation of Israel, so translators may use a plural pronoun here.

And Edom came out against them with many men, and with a strong force is literally “And Edom went out to meet him [Israel] with many people and with a strong hand.” Revised Standard Version‘s fairly literal translation may suggest that two distinct armies of Edom went to attack the people of Israel. NET Bible clarifies that there was only one Edomite army by saying “Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful force.”

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 .