The LORD make his face to shine upon you: This imagery of God’s face shining on people is used in the context of salvation and delivery (see Psa 31.16; 67.1; 80.3, 7, 19). God’s shining face symbolizes his benevolence, kindness, and favor. Good News Bible renders this clause nonfiguratively, saying “May the LORD be kind … to you.” But in many receptor languages there may be ways to render this meaning and at the same time keep some of the figurative language; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “May the LORD look kindly on you,” Chitonga has “May the LORD look on you with love,” and New Living Translation translates “May the LORD smile on you.” In some receptor languages the verb shine may have to be rendered “be without shadow,” and the preposition “toward” may have to be used instead of upon or “on.” Other languages may be able to use another local idiom, featuring another part of the body, such as the heart; for example, Chichewa renders this clause as “and may he be favorable toward you in the heart.”

And be gracious to you: The Hebrew verb rendered be gracious refers to the “kindly action of a superior party to an inferior one in which the inferior has no claim on the superior.” This clause may be rendered “and have compassion on you.”

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 .