These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods: The Hebrew verb rendered invited is feminine, so the demonstrative pronoun These refers to the Moabite women mentioned in the previous verse. Good News Bible makes this clear by saying “These women.” Good News Bible renders the people as “them,” which refers to “the [Israelite] men” mentioned in verse 1, but the Hebrew is not that specific. Were Israelite women somehow also involved in the worship of the Moabite gods? The Hebrew text does not rule that out, so it is better to keep the general expression the people or to say “the Israelites.” It is more accurate to translate the sacrifices of their gods as “the sacrifices to their gods” (New International Version) or “the sacrifices offered to their gods” (Revised English Bible). The Hebrew pronoun for their is feminine, referring to the Moabite women mentioned in the previous verse. The Hebrew noun for gods could be understood as singular or plural. Like Revised Standard Version, most translations use the plural form here. However, some scholars believe this noun refers specifically to the god Baal, so they recommend the singular form “god.” Good News Bible uses the singular form by rendering this clause as “These women invited them to sacrificial feasts, where the god of Moab was worshiped.” In verse 3 Good News Bible identifies this god as Baal. A problem with this rendering is that the national god of Moab was Chemosh, not Baal. In verses 2-3 there is probably an instance of the Hebrew narrative technique of presenting a general reference first (their gods), followed by a more specific one appropriate to the current context (Baal of Peor). So it is probably better to begin with the plural form gods.

And the people ate: Revised English Bible says “The Israelites ate the sacrificial food,” which indicates what they ate. New Living Translation has “so the Israelites feasted with them.”

And bowed down to their gods: The Hebrew verb for bowed down refers to not simply bowing or kneeling, but lying prostrate on the ground. In this context it may be rendered simply “worshiped” (Good News Bible).

So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor means the people bound themselves closely to Baal like two oxen in a team (compare Psa 106.28, where the Hebrew verb rendered yoked is translated “attached”). Perhaps some sort of covenantal agreement was involved. Helpful renderings for yoked himself to are “clung to” (Alter; similarly Luther, Buber), “tied itself to” (NBG), and “joined in the worship of” (New Living Translation). Good News Bible omits this verb. The Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”) rendered So introduces a summary here. New Living Translation translates it well with “In this way.” Baal of Peor probably refers to a local deity. The god Baal is mentioned here for the first time in the Old Testament. He was the Canaanite god of vegetation and general fertility, while Peor refers to the mountain where he was worshiped. It was common to speak of him in various local manifestations. Ironically, Peor was the place where the LORD richly blessed Israel through the third and fourth oracles of Balaam (see 23.28). For clarity NIRV renders Baal of Peor as “the god Baal that was worshiped at [Mount] Peor.”

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel is literally “and the nose/anger of the LORD burned against Israel.” This figurative expression for anger has already been used several times in Numbers to express the LORD’s response to Israel’s acts of religious unfaithfulness (see 11.1, 10, 33; 12.9). The conjunction And may be rendered “So” (Good News Bible) to indicate that it introduces a result or consequence.

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 .