And they fell on their faces, and said: Good News Translation renders the conjunction And as “But,” since Moses and Aaron try to stop the LORD from killing all the Israelites. The pronoun they refers to Moses and Aaron, which Good News Translation specifies for clarity. For they fell on their faces, see the comments on verse 4 and 14.5.
O God: The Hebrew word for God is ʾel, the generic Semitic term for deity. Here this word seems to highlight God as the Creator of life and Lord over all, but a distinct translation is not necessary.
The God of the spirits of all flesh: This phrase only occurs here and in 27.16 in the Old Testament. The Hebrew phrase for the spirits of all flesh is usually understood to refer to all living creatures (so Good News Translation with “all life”). But Rashi and Rashbam, the Jewish medieval commentators, interpreted the Hebrew word for spirits (ruach) as “minds,” so for them this phrase refers to the thoughts of all people. Moses and Aaron argue that since God knows the thoughts of all people and therefore knows who is guilty and who is not, there is no reason for him to punish the whole community. Understood in this way, the phrase certainly makes sense in combination with the question that follows. However, in the Hebrew Bible the word ruach mostly refers to spirit in the sense of “wind” or “breath,” and hence the breath of life (see, for example, Gen 6.17). The Hebrew expression for all flesh refers to all humankind, or even all living creatures, including animals (see Gen 7.15; Job 12.10). Helpful models for the God of the spirits of all flesh are “God, you who have given life to all creatures” (Bible en français courant) and “you are the God who gives breath to all creatures” (New Living Translation). Contemporary English Version says “God, you gave these people life,” but this rendering is too specific, so we do not recommend it as a model.
Shall one man sin, and wilt thou be angry with all the congregation?: This rhetorical question conveys a respectful protest and makes a request at the same time. It implies that a gracious God would (or should) not do what is being queried (see 14.17-20). Helpful models for this question are “will you be angry with the whole community if only one man has sinned?” (Bible en français courant) and “do not punish in anger the [or, this] whole community for the sin of one man” (similarly Bijbel in Gewone Taal). Good News Translation separates this question from the preceding description of God, which 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 .