So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel: The LORD speaks directly to Moses again in this verse. The conjunction So connects this verse clearly with the preceding verses. Good News Bible inserts the quotation frame “And the LORD said.” But this insertion unfortunately disconnects the verse from what precedes and may even suggest that an additional blessing is in view here. The pronoun they refers to the priests, which may need to be made explicit (so Contemporary English Version with “Aaron and his sons”). Put my name upon may be rendered “pronounce my name as a blessing upon” (Good News Bible) or “link My name with” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Pronouncing the blessing in verses 24-26 effectively lays the LORD’s name on his people and marks his covenantal presence among them. As verses 24-26 show, this blessing involves an emphatic repetition of the divine name YHWH in Hebrew, which is rendered “The LORD.”

And I will bless them: The Hebrew says literally “and I, I will bless them,” which means “and I myself will bless them” or “but I myself will bless them.” Chewa transfers the emphasis on the pronoun “I” to the verb by saying “I will indeed/surely bless them.” The priests are to pronounce the blessing, but the LORD is the sole author of the blessing. For the verb bless, see verse 24. The pronoun them refers to the Israelites, which may need to be made explicit (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “my people Israel”).

The following helpful model for this verse is based on Bijbel in Gewone Taal:

• “When [or, As] they thus pronounce my name upon the Israelites, I will bless them.”

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 .