You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp: The Hebrew verbs rendered you shall put out and putting are plural, referring to Moses and the people. Good News Translation renders both male and female as “all these ritually unclean people,” which misses the point that these circumstances apply equally to women as well as men. (This is an important matter, since a number of other instructions in the book of Numbers apply specifically to men or specifically to women.)

That they may not defile their camp: The Hebrew verb for defile comes from the same root as the word rendered “unclean” in the previous verse. It means cause to be polluted, that is, ritually impure or unclean. Languages often have an idiomatic or euphemistic manner of expressing this; for example, Chewa has “cause [someone/something] to be bad,” and Tonga (a major language of southern Zambia) says “cause [someone/something] to become dirty.” Translators must ensure that they maintain consistency with regard to all the terms pertaining to ceremonial purity and pollution that have already been researched and tested in previous books, such as Leviticus.

In the midst of which I dwell is literally “where I dwell among them.” God lived among the Israelites in the Tabernacle (see Exo 25.8). Revised English Bible and Luther emend the Hebrew text here to read “in which I dwell among you,” which follows the Vulgate. Some languages may find this reading helpful since God is addressing Moses and the people.

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 .