And you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel: Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew text of this verse by having the Levites assemble at the Tent of Meeting before the other Israelites. Good News Translation reverses this order of assembling, which we do not recommend. The Hebrew verb for present is literally “bring forward” (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “bring close.” Chewa says “bring to,” which also renders this verb well. It should not be implied that Moses has to force the Levites to come. Good News Translation renders this verb as “have … stand,” which incorrectly implies force. For the tent of meeting, see 1.1; for the Hebrew word rendered congregation, which is better translated “community” (Good News Translation), see 1.2.

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 .