And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood: Since this clause begins the set of regulations introduced at the end of the previous verse, Good News Translation omits the conjunction and, which other languages may find helpful. As in verse 24, the Hebrew word for congregation (ʿedah) is better rendered “community” (Good News Translation). Some languages may prefer to say “leaders of the community.” It may be more appropriate to render rescue as “protect” (New Living Translation). Even in English the verb rescue implies that the manslayer was already in the hands of the avenger, but if this were the case, he would already be dead. Some translations render the manslayer as “the one guilty of manslaughter.” But it is unhelpful to include the idea of “guilty,” since this verse still refers to the manslayer whose killing was unintentional (verses 22-23). So a better model is “the one accused of manslaughter.” For the avenger of blood, see verse 12.

And the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, to which he had fled: The congregational meeting to judge this case was probably held outside the city of refuge, at the city gates, since this clause speaks of returning the killer to the city (so Wenham, page 238). Restore him is literally “let him return.” For city of refuge, see verse 6.

And he shall live in it until the death of the high priest: The death of the High Priest functioned as a substitute expiation for the blood shed by unintentional killers who lived within the city. Ashley (page 654) notes, “In this case, the high priest’s death was on behalf of the killer, much as the priest offers sacrifices on behalf of the people elsewhere.” The death of the high priest refers to a natural death, not some other act of deliberate or inadvertent killing. The high priest is literally “the great priest.” He was the leader of the other priests.

Who was anointed with the holy oil: For the Hebrew verb rendered anointed (mashach), see the comments on 3.3. Holy oil refers to the special olive oil that was used to anoint the High Priest. Good News Translation renders the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil simply as “the man who is then High Priest.” However, the context seems to indicate that there is a more significant, religious significance to this clause. It underlines the unique position of the High Priest, who was the only priest who was anointed on his head (Exo 29.7; Lev 8.12). Cole (page 554) says, “The mention of the anointing of the high priest highlights both the role of the priest as the one who carried out the atonement ceremonies for the sins of the nation throughout his days in office (Lev 16:1-34) and the role of the cities of refuge in maintaining the holiness of the land.” Therefore it seems unwarranted to omit the clause altogether, as Good News Translation does. In some languages “the consecrated high priest” (Parole de Vie) will be a helpful model. Also, the translation should not give the wrong suggestion (as Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version seem to do) that there was also another High Priest who had not been anointed. NET Bible solves this problem in English by adding a comma as follows: “the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil” (similarly New International Version). Other possible models are “the high priest, the one anointed with holy oil” and “the duly anointed high priest” (Revised English Bible).

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 .