But the LORD said to Moses: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered But is better translated “then” (New Jerusalem Bible), since overall the LORD responds favorably to Moses’ plea (see the comments below). The verb said may be rendered “answered” (Good News Translation) or “replied” (Contemporary English Version).

If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days?: To spit in a person’s face humiliated the person (see Deut 25.9; Job 30.10; Isa 50.6). The point of this rhetorical question is that seven days of punishment would have been required to clear Miriam of a much lesser act involving personal shame. The LORD implies that Miriam cannot avoid punishment completely; a period of public humiliation and separation is necessary, perhaps for her own good as well, that is, to help temper her pride and aspirations to leadership. Good News Translation renders this rhetorical question with a rather weak, colorless statement. Revised English Bible translates it well by alluding to the hypothetical nature of this case as follows: “Suppose her father had spat in her face, would she not have to remain in disgrace for seven days?”

Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days: The conjunction “So” in Good News Translation at the beginning of this sentence helpfully marks the connection between the disgrace because of spitting and Miriam’s disgrace. Let her be shut up outside the camp gives the wrong suggestion that Miriam is to be locked up somewhere outside the camp. But the point here in Hebrew is that she is to be expelled to some location outside the camp. She was now ritually unclean and threatened the purity of the entire camp. For camp see 1.50. It is not made clear whether seven days means that Miriam would only be healed after seven days. Since prayers by Moses were normally effective at once, it has been suggested that Miriam was healed immediately after Moses’ petition (so Noth, page 97; Budd, page 137), and that she was excluded from the camp because of the shame involved and the need for rituals of purification to be performed (see Lev. 13.5, 33-34; 14.8). Verses 14-15 present a new stage in the story, after Miriam’s implied healing in verse 13. For this reason it is better not to use the connector But at the beginning of verse 14. The text probably wants to present Miriam’s punishment as mild: even though Miriam turned against the LORD’s confidant, she was healed quickly and the period of shame was short. It also reiterates the power of Moses’ intercession; he was the (only) one with real influence before the LORD. Therefore it was foolish to question the quality and extent of his leadership.

And after that she may be brought in again: In languages that do not use passive verbs, this clause may be rendered “After that, you can bring her back” (New International Readers Version) or “After that, she may come back” (New Century Version).

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 .