The LORD is slow to anger …: This time The LORD renders YHWH, the Hebrew personal name for God. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew text by referring to God in the third person in this verse. Since God is speaking, Good News Translation uses first person for him, beginning with “I, the LORD, am….” Referring to God in the first person here may be more natural in many languages. The characteristics of the LORD in this verse are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament and should be translated in the same way. Slow to anger is literally “long of nostrils,” which is an idiom suggesting that the nostrils are slow in reflecting the heat (redness) of anger. This clause may be rendered “The LORD does not get angry quickly,” “The LORD’s heart does not get hot quickly,” or “The LORD is very patient.”
And abounding in steadfast love: This clause also occurs in Exo 34.6. The Hebrew word rendered steadfast love (chesed) refers to a constant and unchanging love. Good News Translation renders this clause is “I show great love,” but a distinctive way to express chesed should be found, one that fits naturally in the many contexts where it occurs. New Living Translation says “and filled with unfailing love.”
Forgiving iniquity and transgression: Forgiving renders a Hebrew word meaning “to lift/raise.” In context it may be understood as “taking away the guilt or consequences” of sin. The Hebrew word for iniquity suggests activity that is crooked or wrong, and the word for transgression refers to rebellion or revolt. In some languages this clause may be more naturally stated as a separate sentence; for example, New Century Version says “He forgives sin and law breaking.”
But he will by no means clear the guilty is literally “and clearing [the guilty] he will not clear [them]” or “and leaving unpunished he will not leave unpunished”. This clause is an emphatic Hebrew expression that uses an infinitive absolute and finite form of the same verb. It is helpful to begin this clause with the conjunction But, since it contrasts strongly with the previous clauses. Helpful models here are “yet not remitting any punishment” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “but he leaves nothing unpunished” (La Bible de Jérusalem Nouvelle; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bijbel in Gewone Taal). The emphasis in this clause should be expressed in the target language through some suitable means. In some languages this can be done in a way that is very similar to the double verbal expression in Hebrew (so Chewa).
Visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation: This literal expression emphasizes that the effects of habitual sinfulness are passed on from one generation to the next. Visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children means punishing children for the sins of their parents. The LORD is about to demonstrate the truth of this principle when he punishes the Israelites for their disobedience. The children will have to suffer, wandering in a barren wilderness, along with their parents. Upon the third and upon the fourth generation means the punishment is also extended to “grandchildren and great-grandchildren” (New International Readers Version). Some languages may have an idiomatic way of rendering this clause. Good News Translation combines this clause with the previous one, saying “Yet I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.”
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 .