And they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt”: The Israelites suggest to each other that a new leader be chosen in place of Moses to bring them back to Egypt. The Hebrew word for captain (roʾsh) is literally “head,” which will be an acceptable term for “leader” (Good News Translation) in many 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 .