Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites: In verses 20-22 the Israelites carry out the LORD’s instructions concerning the dedication of the Levites. Since there is a shift from the LORD’s direct speech to this summary narrative report, translators should begin a new paragraph here (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). Thus or “So” (Good News Translation) is a good connector to begin this paragraph. For the Hebrew word rendered congregation (ʿedah), see the comments on 1.2. Good News Translation omits this word, which it usually renders “community.”

According to all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them: Part of this sentence repeats the previous one, so Good News Translation says simply “as the LORD commanded Moses.” However, the repetition here in the Hebrew text emphasizes that all God’s instructions were carried out by the people in all their detail. If such repetition has a similar function in the target language, it should of course be preserved. Alternatively, the emphasis of the repetition may be expressed in some other way; for example, New Living Translation provides the following good model for this verse:

• So Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel dedicated the Levites, carefully following all the LORD’s instructions to Moses.

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 .