These are the names of the sons of Aaron repeats the first clause of the previous verse. Good News Translation omits it, but it serves to heighten the importance of Aaron and his sons as priests among the Israelites. Translators should express this emphasis in some way in their languages.

Anointed priests are men who have received authority from God to offer sacrifices and perform other religious ceremonies on behalf of his people, so that they mediate between God and the people. Olive oil was poured on the priests to appoint them to their task.

Anointed renders the Hebrew verb mashach, from which is derived the title “Messiah,” the Anointed One of God. In the Old Testament the office of the priesthood was limited to the tribe of Levi, and more specifically to one family of that tribe, the family of Aaron. Regulations with regard to the qualifications of priests are given in Lev 21.16-23. The word priest is often rendered “sacrifice-making person” or “ceremony person.”

Whom he ordained to minister in the priest’s office is literally “whom he filled their hand to be priests,” which means “whose hands he filled with offerings which they had to offer as priests” or, in more general terms, “whom he ordained to minister [that is, serve] as priests” (New Revised Standard Version). The idiom “fill someone’s hand” means to formally place someone into office. This idiom may have referred originally to the act of placing some object in the hand of the person being invested with authority and installed into office. It occurs in other Old Testament books (see, for example, Exo 28.41; 29.9; Lev 8.33). In some languages “fill someone’s hand” or another idiom may be used to express the idea of ordination. If not, then this idiom may be rendered “ordain,” “install,” “induct,” or even “initiate.” Translators should review and evaluate the terms that they have already been using to render the technical Hebrew words that pertain to the priesthood.

Many translations, including the Septuagint and the Vulgate, treat the Hebrew verb for “filled” as plural; for example, Good News Translation says “They were … ordained.” But the subject of this verb in Hebrew is the singular pronoun for he, which refers Moses (made explicit in New Afrikaans Version), who ordained Aaron and his sons (see Exo 29.9). So it makes sense that verse 1 mentions not only Aaron but Moses as well.

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 .