And the people of Israel said to Moses: The conjunction And may be rendered “Then” (New Living Translation) to introduce this terrified response of the Israelites as the next event.
Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone: The Hebrew interjection rendered Behold (hen) emphasizes the following words of the Israelites. The Hebrew verbs rendered perish and are undone are virtually synonymous. This repetition indicates how terrified the people were. There are various ways of expressing the dramatic nature of the original text here; for example, New Living Translation says “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined!”
Every one who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die: The repeated phrase who comes near also conveys the terror of the people. Good News Bible says simply “who even comes near,” and New Living Translation is similar with “who even comes close.” These models will be helpful in languages where repetition would not make the translation expressive. For tabernacle, which renders the Hebrew word mishkan (literally “dwelling-place”), see 1.50.
Are we all to perish?: The people’s plaintive cry ends the way it starts (we perish … are we all to perish). This question seems to be rhetorical. New Jewish Publication Society Version uses a strong statement, saying “Alas, we are doomed to perish!” New Living Translation has “Are we all doomed to die?”
It seems that the Israelites finally got the message that nobody could enter the Tabernacle who had not been given the LORD’s authority to do so. Only Aaron and his descendants could enter the sanctuary and carry out the specific duties of the priesthood. This distressing moment precedes the next chapter, which outlines the responsibilities of the priests and Levites and the people’s obligations toward them in order to maintain the divinely ordained cultic relationship.
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 .