Say to the people of Israel introduces what the LORD wants Moses to say to the Israelites in verses 10b-14. Good News Translation uses indirect speech here, saying “to say to the people of Israel.” This may be a helpful model in languages in which a quote within a quote is awkward.

If any man of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body …: The conjunction If introduces several hypothetical cases. Good News Translation uses the word “When,” which may not fit in this context for some languages. Again, the Hebrew does not focus on males here, so any man of you is better rendered simply “any of you” (Good News Translation). Your descendants is literally “your generations,” so Bible en français courant reflects the Hebrew more closely by saying “in generations to come.” Is unclean through touching a dead body is literally “is unclean through a [dead] body” (see verse 6). In this context it may be necessary to render is unclean as “becomes unclean.” Some languages have a verb form that conveys the notion of “becoming unclean” or “polluting oneself” (so Chewa).

Or is afar off on a journey means the person is “far away” (Good News Translation) from home, possibly abroad (that is, away from the land of Canaan, in which the people of Israel will live). This passage obviously refers to a later time when the people will have settled down in the Promised Land (see also 10.9).

He shall still keep the passover to the LORD: Revised Standard Version‘s translation of verses 10-11 implies that those who are unclean or who travel far from home must celebrate the Passover festival just like all other Israelites by doing it one month later (so also New Revised Standard Version, TNIV, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, Luther, Bijbel in Gewone Taal, Bijbel: Vertaling in opdracht van het Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap, Nije Fryske Bibeloersetting, Willibrordvertaling [1977]). In Revised Standard Version this clause is the main clause of the conditional sentence in verse 10, and the first half of verse 11 is a new sentence that specifies the date of the delayed Passover for these people. Good News Translation renders this clause as “but still want to keep the Passover,” which implies that this later celebration of the Passover is only voluntary. In Good News Translation this clause gives the last condition in verse 10 before the main clause in the first half of verse 11 (supported by Levine, page 297). According to Good News Translation‘s understanding of verses 10-11, those who are unclean or who travel far from home may decide whether they still want to celebrate the Passover a month later or not (so also Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, NET Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Die Bibel: Einheitsübersetzung der Heiligen Schrift, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling, Willibrordvertaling, Levine). We recommend that translators follow this interpretation, since verse 13 indicates that God will only punish those people who are able to celebrate Passover in the first month (because they are ritually clean and not far away) but do not.

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 .