And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel: See the comments on 21.1. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both treat verse 40 as a paragraph on its own, since it interrupts the mentioning of Mount Hor in the preceding and following verses. However, in 21.1-3 the battle with the king of Arad was the very next event recorded after the death of Aaron; it was Israel’s first major military victory on the way to Canaan. Since this verse interrupts the travel narrative, a suitable disjunctive expression should be used to render the conjunction And; for example, New Living Translation has “At that time.” The phrase in the land of Canaan, which is absent from 21.1, highlights that the Israelites were close to Canaan at this point in the itinerary.

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 .