And on the morrow Moses went into the tent of the testimony: Good News Bible renders And on the morrow as “The next day” (compare 16.41). For the tent of the testimony, see the previous verse.

And behold …: As in 12.10, the Hebrew word for behold (hinneh) introduces a dramatic revelation. There is usually some idiomatic way of bringing out the emphasis of this Hebrew word and the dramatic verb-packed report that follows it. Good News Bible attempts it by beginning a new sentence after “sprouted” and by putting an exclamation mark at the end of the verse. Revised English Bible uses some repetition and the word “Indeed.”

The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi: The staff of Aaron represented the Levites (see verse 3). Good News Bible renders the house of Levi as “the tribe of Levi,” which is appropriate in this context since the whole tribe is in view.

Had sprouted means Aaron’s staff put out new shoots (see verse 5).

And put forth buds: The Hebrew noun for buds comes from the same root as the verb for sprouted. This noun is singular, but it has a collective sense here.

And produced blossoms renders a verb and noun from the same root. The Hebrew word for blossoms is singular, but it has a collective sense here, referring to “flowers” (Contemporary English Version).

And it bore ripe almonds: The almond tree is the first of the fruit trees in Israel to come into blossom at the end of January or the beginning of February. Its blossoms are pink or white (see Eccl 12.5). Images of its bud and flower decorated the Tabernacle lampstand (see 8.4; see also Exo 25.31, 33-34; 37.17, 19-20). Ripe almonds is simply “almonds” in the Hebrew text, so there is no need to add ripe, unless such an addition is needed to indicate the end of the growth sequence on the plant. New Jewish Publication Society Version makes clear the progressive growth of the plant by rendering the last half of this verse as “and there the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds,” and so does Revised English Bible with “he found that Aaron’s staff, the staff for the tribe of Levi, had budded. Indeed, it had put forth buds, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds.”

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 .