Then the LORD said to Moses: The conjunction Then introduces God’s response to the gifts of the Israelite leaders. For the LORD said to Moses, see 1.1.

Accept these from them: Revised Standard Version adds the implied demonstrative pronoun these, which refers to the wagons and oxen. Good News Translation makes the referent for this pronoun clear by saying “these gifts,” which other languages may find helpful. Another possible rendering is “these offerings.” The pronoun them refers to the Israelite leaders mentioned in verse 2, which New Century Version makes clear by saying “the leaders.”

That they may be used in doing the service of the tent of meeting: Doing the service renders the Hebrew verb ʿabad and the noun ʿabodah, which come from the same root (see the comments on 3.7). Both these words occur frequently in chapter 4, where different tasks were given to the different Levite clans. The service of the tent of meeting refers to the Levites’ work at the Tabernacle. For the tent of meeting, see 1.1.

And give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service: The LORD instructs Moses to give the wagons and oxen to the Levites for their work of transporting the Tabernacle objects. New International Version renders to each man according to his service as “as each man’s work requires.” However, since groups rather than individuals were actually involved with these Tabernacle tasks, perhaps a better rendering is “to each group according to its assigned service/task/work.”

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 .