Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon …: It may be helpful to make explicit that these places are all towns, so Good News Translation and New Living Translation say “the towns of Ataroth….” All these towns were east of the northern half of the Dead Sea and the southern half of the Jordan River. For Dibon see 21.30; for Jazer see 21.32; and for Heshbon, the capital city of the Amorite king Sihon, see 21.25. In verse 38 the Hebrew has a slightly different spelling for the name Sebam: “Sibmah.” The Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch use the spelling “Sibmah” here and in verse 38 to harmonize the spelling. Other translations may want to do this also to avoid confusion (so Good News Translation). The same applies to the name Beon, which is spelled “Meon” in verse 38.

The land which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel describes what happened to the region where these towns were located. The LORD helped the Israelites to conquer it. The Hebrew verb for smote means “attack” or “destroy” in this context. Instead of the archaic verb smote, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and Revised English Bible have “subdued,” but in some languages this verb does not combine well with the land as the object. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh solves this problem by rendering this clause as “the land that the LORD has conquered for the community of Israel” (similarly New Living Translation). For the Hebrew word rendered congregation (ʿedah), see the comments on 1.2. De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling has the following helpful model for verses 3-4a: “The region of Ataroth … which the LORD has conquered for the people of Israel, that region….” New Living Translation also provides a good model with “Notice the towns of Ataroth … The LORD has conquered this whole area for the community of Israel.” In some languages it will be more natural to place verse 4a before the actual list of towns. Good News Translation does this by saying “This region which the LORD has helped the Israelites occupy—the towns of Ataroth….”

Is a land for cattle: See verse 1. This phrase may be rendered “is good land for livestock” (Good News Translation), “is ideal land for livestock” (similarly NET Bible), or “is very suitable land for livestock” (similarly De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling).

And your servants have cattle: The Hebrew pronoun for your is singular, since the Gadites and Reubenites are addressing Moses as Israel’s leader and chief spokesman (even though verse 2 mentioned other addressees as well: Eleazar and the chiefs). They refer to themselves your servants as a sign of respect in view of their great request. Good News Translation simply uses the pronoun “we,” which may be more natural in English, but does not indicate any deference. In some languages “we, your servants” (SPCL) will be natural and will express the speakers’ deference at the same time. Have cattle implies “have so much livestock” (Good News Translation). By saying is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle, they seem to be making an implicit request for the land.

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 .