But Moses said to the LORD: In verses 13-19 Moses asks the LORD to forgive the Israelites instead of destroying them. Since he asks the LORD not to do what he proposes to do, both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation begin this clause with the conjunction But. In Moses’ speech it is important to keep the Israelites, the Egyptians and the people of Canaan distinct from each other. Some of the pronouns may need to be changed to nouns for clarity.

Then the Egyptians will hear of it: In some languages Moses must begin his speech to the LORD with an expression of proper respect for a deity. A possible model for this clause is “LORD, if you destroy your people, the Egyptians will hear about it.”

For thou didst bring up this people in thy might from among them: The Hebrew particle ki rendered for is an emphatic marker here, so it is better translated “Indeed.” For this people, which refers to the Israelites, see verse 11. This phrase may be rendered “your people” for clarity. The pronoun them refers to the Egyptians. Contemporary English Version renders this clause as “With your mighty power you rescued your people from Egypt.” Good News Translation places this clause before the previous one, so that what “the Egyptians hear” will connect closer to what “they will tell” in the next verse. This reordering may be helpful in other languages.

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 .