And levy for the LORD a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle: Levy … a tribute is literally “raise a tax.” Some languages may have an idiomatic expression for this phrase; for example, Chewa says “extract a tax,” and Good News Translation has “withhold as a tax.” Tribute refers to a specific share of the loot from the war. A word such as “tax” (Good News Translation) may imply anachronistically that a formal government institution was already in place to implement it; if so, tribute is better rendered “share” (New Living Translation) or “levy” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). For the LORD indicates this was a levy for the sanctuary and the priests (so Levine, page 460). Since the LORD is speaking here, some languages may prefer to say “for me, the LORD” or simply “for me” (New International Readers Version). The men of war who went out to battle is literally “the men of the battle, who went out to the war” (see the comments on verse 27), which may be rendered “the soldiers who fought in the battle” (New International Readers Version) or simply “the soldiers” (Good News Translation).

One out of five hundred, of the persons and of the oxen and of the asses and of the flocks: From their share of the war booty, the soldiers had to give 1/500 of the virgins and domestic animals to the LORD. It seems implied that the virgins given to the LORD are for the priests, and the animals given to him are to be sacrificed. Instead of one, the Hebrew is literally “one life” (NET Bible) or “one living creature” (Alter). Persons renders the same generic Hebrew word (ʾadam) translated “man” in verse 26. As there, it refers to the virgins whose lives had been spared (verse 18), but it is best to keep a generic expression, such as “people” (New International Readers Version) or “human beings” (Revised English Bible). The Hebrew term for oxen (baqar) is a generic word for cattle, and the term for flocks (tsʾon) refers to sheep and goats (see the comments on 11.22, where the same terms are rendered “herds” and “flocks” respectively). Oxen is better rendered “cattle” (Good News Translation, NET Bible, Revised English Bible), especially in cultures where oxen are not considered suitable for sacrifice. For asses, which is better translated “donkeys” (Good News Translation) in English, see 16.15.

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 .