And the LORD said to Moses: See the comments on 1.1. The conjunction And may give the wrong suggestion that this verse comes directly after verse 4 in time. This is not the case. So in many languages it is better to omit this conjunction, as Good News Translation has done. This verse introduces the LORD’s instructions to Moses in verses 6-10. In these verses God appoints the Levites to do various tasks on behalf of the priests. This is one reason why the tribe of Levi is special. The purpose of the second census of the Levites was to divide these tasks among the clans of the tribe of Levi (see 4.1-49).

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 .