The Hebrew text of verse 6 is virtually the same as Exo 13.20.

And they set out from Succoth, and encamped at Etham: An idiomatic way of reporting this long journey account should be sought in translation. Often this will mean the elimination of the Hebrew waw conjunctions rendered And (so Good News Bible), or perhaps their replacement by natural conjunctions in the target language. Some languages will have a corresponding verb for set out (see verse 3), such as “set out on a journey” (Chewa), while others will need to use a more general verb, such as “traveled” (NET) or “left” (New Living Translation). If it is more natural, another option is to reduce the repetition somewhat; for example, Good News Bible begins this verse with “Their next camp was at Etham….” The location of Etham is also unknown.

Which is on the edge of the wilderness may be rendered “near the border of the desert” (similarly Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, NTV). For the Hebrew word rendered wilderness (midbar), see 1.1. The wilderness refers to the desert of the Sinai Peninsula.

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 .