The sentence covering verses 29-30 in Revised Standard Version will be too long in many languages. Good News Translation provides one model for dividing it into several sentences.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness means the Israelites will die in the desert. Good News Translation indicates that they will die periodically and individually, not all at once, by saying “You will die and your corpses will be scattered across this wilderness.” Some languages distinguish between human and other types of animate corpses; obviously, dead bodies refers to human corpses. For the Hebrew word rendered wilderness (midbar), see 1.1.

And of all your number, numbered from twenty years old and upward …: The census originally had a military purpose in view of the conquest of the land. Now it becomes a list of those condemned to perish in the wilderness (so Sherwood, page 162). For the Hebrew verb rendered numbered (paqad), see 1.3. It is better translated “recorded” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “registered” (New American Bible), or “enrolled.” For from twenty years old and upward, see 1.3.

Who have murmured against me: See verse 2.

Not one shall come into the land: God will not allow anyone twenty years and older to enter Canaan. The Hebrew construction here emphasizes that there will be no exception. Good News Translation expresses it well by saying “none of you … will enter that land.”

Where I swore that I would make you dwell: The Hebrew expression for I swore is literally “I lifted my hand,” which means “I solemnly promised” (Contemporary English Version; similarly Good News Translation, New Century Version), not that God used bad language. Some translations reflect the Hebrew idiom of raising the right hand while swearing an oath, as happens in many law courts today; for example, Revised English Bible says “I swore with uplifted hand.” It is best not to try to retain the Hebrew gesture, but rather to give the meaning or use an equivalent local gesture for swearing an oath or making a promise. However, translators may retain the gesture and give the meaning by saying “I lifted up my hand to signify the promise I made.” In its reorganization of Revised Standard Version‘s sentence structure, Good News Translation begins a new sentence here, saying “I promised to let you live there.” It would be better to say “I made a solemn promise to let you live there.”

Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun: The only adults that God will allow to enter Canaan are Caleb the son of Jephunneh (see 13.6) and Joshua the son of Nun (see 11.28 and 13.8).

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 .