And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe …: And, which renders the Hebrew waw conjunction, may be translated “Then” (New Living Translation) to introduce the next event. For the Hebrew word rendered war (tsavaʾ), see verse 3. Good News Translation omits the phrase a thousand from each tribe, which we do not recommend since it shows that Moses explicitly carried out the LORD’s commands (see verse 4).

Together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest: In this context together with implies “under the command of” (Good News Translation). Phinehas was first mentioned in 25.7. For Eleazar the priest, see 26.1. Phinehas went to the battlefield instead of his father Eleazar, since it was strictly forbidden for Eleazar as the High Priest to have any contamination by contact with dead bodies (Lev 21.11). In Hebrew this whole phrase is literally “and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the war.” The phrase “to the war” seems to be repetitive after the beginning of the verse (And Moses sent them to the war), which is probably why Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation omit it. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh keeps it by rendering the first half of this verse as “Moses dispatched them on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar serving as a priest on the campaign.” Reading the Hebrew in this way means Phinehas had the task of being the priest in the battle (so Milgrom, page 257).

With the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand: For the vessels of the sanctuary, see 3.31. Here it is uncertain which sacred utensils are in view. Perhaps this is why some translations give a much more general rendering, saying “the sacred objects” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, La Bible de Jérusalem Nouvelle) or “the holy objects” (New Living Translation, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling). Such a generic rendering would include the Covenant Box, and this would change the meaning considerably. These sacred utensils were probably signs that this was a holy war (so Olson, page 176), serving as symbols of the priest’s status (so Niditch, page 83) or, more likely, symbols of the LORD’s presence during the battle (so Duguid, page 331). Perhaps these sacred objects were the sacred lots, that is, the Urim and the Thummim (see 27.21; so Levine, page 452, following the Targum). For the trumpets for the alarm, see the comments on 10.9, where the Hebrew verb for “sound an alarm” comes from the same root as the noun for alarm. Good News Translation renders this phrase as “the trumpets for giving signals,” which may be confusing. Models that express the function of these trumpets more clearly are “the trumpets for sounding the battle signal” (Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual) and “the trumpets for sounding the [battle] charge” (New Living Translation). Since Phinehas could not have carried all these objects himself, in his hand is better rendered “who took charge of” (Good News Translation) or “who was in charge of” (NET Bible).

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 .