Verses 7-11 deal with the offerings on the Day of Atonement and are largely parallel to Lev 23.26-32. Translators may begin a new paragraph here with a subheading (see the introductory comments on this section). Good News Translation‘s heading for these five verses is “The Offerings at the Day of Atonement.” Contemporary English Version has “The Sacrifices on the Great Day of Forgiveness.”

On the tenth day of this seventh month refers to the Day of Atonement (Lev 23.27), though that name is not mentioned here. For this seventh month, see verse 1.

You shall have a holy convocation: The Hebrew pronoun for you is plural, referring to the Israelites. For holy convocation, see 28.18.

And afflict yourselves is literally “and afflict [or, humiliate] your selves,” which is an idiom that indicates abstaining from food, that is, fasting (so noted by Ibn Ezra, the Jewish medieval commentator). This idiom occurs again in 30.14. Revised Standard Version‘s literal translation here could well be misleading. Better models are “eat no food” (Good News Translation), “you must go without food” (similarly New Living Translation), and “you must/shall fast” (La Bible de Jérusalem Nouvelle, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Luther, Willibrordvertaling). The Day of Atonement is the only festival for which this command is given.

You shall do no work: Chewa says “Do no work of any kind.” A stricter prohibition concerning work applies to the Day of Atonement, than to the other holy days on which only occupational labor is forbidden (so Plaut, page 1084). Translators should maintain this unique difference with the phrase “you shall do no laborious work” in 28.18, 25, 26; 29.1, 12, 35.

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 .