This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded: The LORD is speaking to Moses and Aaron here, but Good News Translation uses indirect speech for this clause and the next one by saying “to give the Israelites the following regulations,” which other languages may find helpful. Statute of the law renders a specific Hebrew term and a general one. The word for statute (chuqqah) has the specific meaning of “task,” “obligation,” or “law” (see 9.3). The word for law (torah) has the more general meaning of “instruction, teaching, direction” (see 5.29), or it could refer to the entire code of laws that the LORD gave to Israel as part of his covenant with them. But perhaps it is better to understand this double reference to a type of law as a way of indicating the very specific nature of this particular regulation. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “ritual law,” which is more accurate and expressive than Good News Translation‘s rather general rendering “regulations.” In many languages the third person reference to the LORD will be awkward since he is speaking here. Bijbel in Gewone Taal refers to him in the first person by rendering this clause as “Give the Israelites in my name the following regulation.” Another possible model is “What I, the LORD, command you now is a ritual law” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

Tell the people of Israel …: In the Hebrew text verses 2b-22 are still part of the LORD’s own words to Moses and Aaron. However, as noted above, Good News Translation uses indirect speech for this clause, combining it to the previous one.

To bring you a red heifer is literally “and they bring you [singular] a red cow” (similarly La Nouvelle Bible Segond, Alter, Buber). As noted above, this clause is still part of the LORD’s own words to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites. Good News Translation changes the addressees from Moses and Aaron to the Israelites by saying “Bring to Moses and Aaron a red cow.” In some languages this may be a necessary model to follow (but probably with quotation marks). The Hebrew pronoun for you is singular, referring to Moses as the leader. The Hebrew word for heifer is parah. This word usually refers to young cows specifically fattened and reserved for sacrifice. The rendering heifer (which is a young cow that has not yet born a calf) comes from the Septuagint. The animal here probably had to be fully grown in order to provide the maximum quantity of ashes, but it also had to be young since it had to be one that had “never been worked” (Good News Translation), so heifer is better rendered “young … cow” (New International Readers Version) or simply “cow” (Good News Translation). In languages without a generic term for a “cow,” it will be good to choose an expression which implies that the cow is young. Female animals were used in other rites of purification (see, for example, 15.27; Lev 4.28, 32; 5.6; 14.10). The Hebrew word for red (ʾadom), which is rendered “reddish-brown” in Contemporary English Version, is probably associated with the word for “blood” (dam) in the ritual that follows (verse 4).

Without defect, in which there is no blemish is literally “complete/healthy in which there is no spot/injury” (see 6.14). The Hebrew expression here strongly emphasizes that the red cow had to be absolutely perfect, humanly speaking. New Living Translation provides a good model here, saying “a perfect animal that has no defects.” If it is difficult to find several different terms to refer to such perfection, translators should at least express a similar degree of emphasis, for example, “absolutely no defect” (Parole de Vie).

And upon which a yoke has never come means the animal had to be a cow that was never used for work such as plowing. A yoke is made from bent wood and is placed on the neck of draught animals to control them when pulling a plow, a wagon, or some other object. Even in cultures where yokes are no longer well-known, it may be possible to translate this clause as “and that has never been used for plowing” (Contemporary English Version). This is more specific than Good News Translation‘s rather vague rendering “and which has never been worked.” But the main idea is that the cow should not have been used for common or ordinary work purposes (so Alter, page 778).

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 .