And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge …: This verse presents a case that is parallel to the preceding one, so Chewa renders the conjunction And as “And so.” For you shall accept no ransom, see verse 31; for him who has fled to his city of refuge, see verses 6 and 26. Revised Standard Version follows an emended Hebrew text by saying for him who has fled to his city of refuge. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follows the Hebrew more precisely with “in lieu of flight to a city of refuge.”

That he may return to dwell in the land: This clause states the purpose of paying a (forbidden) ransom and leaving the city of refuge before it is allowed. New International Version expresses it more clearly with “and so allow him to go back and live on his own land.” The land refers to the killer’s own territory. Good News Translation says simply “home,” as in verse 28. However, the qualifying phrase “of his possession” in verse 28 does not occur here.

Before the death of the high priest: Instead of remaining in the city of refuge until the High Priest dies (verse 28), the killer wants to pay a ransom to return home. The Hebrew text has “the priest” instead of the high priest, which follows the Septuagint and the Peshitta. Most translations say “the high priest,” as in verse 28.

New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh follows the Hebrew closely for this whole verse by saying:

• Nor may you accept ransom in lieu of flight to a city of refuge, enabling one to return to live on his land before the death of the priest.

New International Version has the following helpful model for the verse:

• “ ‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow him to go back and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.

Another helpful model is the following one in Contemporary English Version:

• And if you have been proven innocent of murder and are living in a Safe Town, you cannot pay to go back home; you must stay there until the high priest dies.

Contemporary English Version‘s interpretation here is probably correct. However, Contemporary English Version‘s reformulation of the text to directly address the killer (from “you” plural to “you” singular) is not necessarily the best model to follow. The point of verse 32 is that a ransom payment does not form an exception to verses 25-27, which are about a manslayer who has been found innocent of intentional killing.

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 .