And the LORD said to Moses is literally “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying.” In Hebrew this quote frame differs a little from the one in verse 4, where it is literally “And the LORD said to Moses.” Here the main Hebrew verb is dabar (“to speak”), but in verse 4 it is ʾamar (“to say”). Cole (pages 437-438) see a special significance in this shift of usage. It should be kept in translation, if possible. The quote frames in chapter 25 seem to demarcate the stages of progression in this narrative: first a general statement of the crisis (verses 1-3), then the righteous punitive action by Phinehas against a pair of blatant offenders (verses 4-9), next the LORD’s recognition of and response to Phinehas’ intervention with a “covenant of peace” (verses 10-15), followed by a conclusion that reflects back on the entire account (verses 16-18).

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 .