Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did: The repetition here stresses the explicit obedience of Moses, in contrast to the rebellious behavior of his fellow Israelites. Good News Bible loses the emphasis here by removing the repetition. Revised English Bible is better with “Moses did this, doing exactly as the LORD had commanded him.” Another good model is:
• Thus Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him to do.
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 .
