The blessing in verses 24-27 was probably used also in Temple worship (see Psa 67.1). All of the Hebrew verbs in these verses may be interpreted as jussives (a form of a verb expressing a command — two of them are explicitly jussive), so in this context they function as wishes, as prayers (so Contemporary English Version with “I pray that…”), or as divine oracles that actually perform each blessing as the priest utters it. (The Septuagint interprets these verbs as jussives by translating them with optative forms [expressing a wish].) As already noted, verse 27 makes the point that the LORD is the sole author of the entire blessing. He, not the priests, will realize these wishes and bring them to pass. No verbal magic is involved.

The LORD bless you: The Hebrew pronouns for you are singular throughout this blessing. Every Israelite is blessed individually. It may indicate that this blessing could also be pronounced on individuals, and not only upon the community as a whole. In this context, where God blesses people, the verb bless means to endue with special power and protection, to grant well-being that can come from God alone. In some languages (for example, Chichewa and Chitonga) there are specific verbs to express such a “blessing,” where God alone must be the expressed or implied agent.

And keep you: The verb keep may be rendered “protect” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “guard” (Revised English Bible), or “care for.”

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 .