And you shall say to the people of Israel: The LORD is still speaking to Moses. This quote frame marks the start of the actual ruling on the daughters’ case, which is a quote within a quote. Good News Bible uses indirect discourse for this embedded quote here by beginning with “Tell the people of Israel that….” This model may be more natural in some languages, but perhaps it no longer marks a clear start of the actual ruling. In some languages (for example, Chewa) any formal ruling or legal decision must be given in direct speech, as in Hebrew.

If a man dies, and has no son, then …: Verses 8b-11 conform to the legal pattern of case (or casuistic) law as follows: an opening conditional statement, followed by more definite circumstances along with the action to be taken.

You shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter: The Hebrew verb rendered cause … to pass is the same one used in the previous verse, but this time it is plural since the people of Israel are being addressed. For the Hebrew word rendered inheritance (nachalah), see verses 4 and 7.

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 .