And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it: The Hebrew verb rendered take possession (yarash) is the same one translated “drive out” in the previous verse, but in English it must be translated differently due to the different objects involved—“dispossessing people” in verse 52 and “taking possession of land” here. It may be possible in some languages to duplicate this significant verbal correspondence. By repeating this verb the LORD emphasizes that he has given the land to them as a gift.

For I have given the land to you to possess it: See 20.12. The Hebrew construction here emphasizes the pronoun for you by placing it at the beginning of this clause, which is literally “for to you have I given the land to possess it” (similarly Bijbel: Vertaling in opdracht van het Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap, Luther). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible makes this emphasis quite explicit by saying “for it is to you [people] that I have given this land for you to possess” (the word “people” may be needed in some languages to bring out the emphasis of the original). Bible en français courant also keeps the original emphasis by translating “because I have given it to you, it belongs to you.”

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 .