Then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you: La Bible de Jérusalem Nouvelle renders select as “find,” since the Hebrew verb (qarah) here generally points to a chance event. In this context it is better translated “choose” (Good News Translation, La Nouvelle Bible Segond), “designate” (New Living Translation, NET Bible, Reina-Valera Contemporánea), or “Set apart” (La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual). For cities of refuge, see verse 6.

That the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there: See verse 6. Without intent is literally “by error” or “by unintentional mistake.” The same expression occurs in 15.24-29, where it refers to unintentional offenses. There Revised Standard Version usually renders it “unwittingly,” and Good News Translation has “unintentionally.” Here it may be translated “by accident” (Chewa).

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 .