And the LORD said to Moses: See 1.1. This quote frame introduces a new subsection. The conjunction And may be rendered “Then” (New Revised Standard Version). The generic verb said may be translated “commanded” (Good News Translation) to indicate the nature of the following speech act. Here the LORD’s speech is no longer directed at Aaron, but at Moses. It would be a conflict of interest for Aaron himself to command the Levites to present an offering to Aaron and his sons, and so the LORD turns to Moses for this part of the instructions (so Olson, page 116).

Moreover you shall say to the Levites introduces a quote within a quote. The words that follow are what Moses is to tell the Levites. In many languages it will be helpful to reduce the levels of direct speech by using indirect speech here (so Good News Translation with “to say to the Levites”).

When you take from the people of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance: The Hebrew pronouns for you and your are plural, referring to the Levites, who are the addressees here. A literal rendering of the verb take will be misleading if it indicates the Levites were robbing the people of this tithe or forcing them to give it. The verb “receive” in Good News Translation conveys the correct idea. For tithe see verse 21. Good News Translation changes the pronoun I to “the LORD,” so that the translation does not mistakenly suggest that this pronoun refers to Moses, the spokesman.

Then you shall present an offering from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe: The Hebrew verb for present and the noun for offering come from the same root, as in verse 19 (see the comments there). A tithe of the tithe refers to a tenth of the Israelites’ tithes. Good News Translation says “a tenth of it.”

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 .